GENERATORS

TYCHY AQUAPARK IN POLAND USES THREE BIOGAS-FIRED COGENERATION POWER PLANTS

Bathe in beer and then cut a good figure on a wave - there are worse things to do in the offhours. Those who do so at the Tychy Aquapark enjoy the comforting warmth of the water and the stable power supply from three MWM gensets. If you want to enjoy a leisurely soak in a beer, Tychy

Aquapark in southern Poland is the place to go. The right mixture of hops, barley malt and water is mixed by the master brewer in front of the customer before he or she relaxes in a single or double tub modelled on a beer barrel. Afterwards straw beds invite to rest. The ambience is true to the style of an old brewery. But that’s not the only attraction waiting for visitors in the water paradise.

In addition to three dry saunas and two steam saunas, the sauna landscape offers a salt grotto and a snow cave where the respiratory tract is cleansed at minus 15 degrees C. But the Tychy Aquapark is not only about relaxation, athletes don’t miss out either. A pool with a heightadjustable bottom (between 30 and 180 centimeters of water depth) offers the right water height for the various aquagym courses. Finally, a permanent wave is one of the numerous highlights of the bath, where you can either distinguish yourself as an elegant surfer or serve as an amusement magnet for the spectators. What is hidden from the visitors at first, and probably second glance, is that, they owe the well-tempered heat and the reliable power supply of the facility to three gensets from MWM. Polish MWM distributor Centrum Elektroniki

Stosowanej CES Sp. z o.o. has installed three biogas cogeneration power plants for Wodny Park

Tychy in Poland. Since the aquapark opened in 2018, it has already been expanded. A special feature of the aquapark is that it is energy self-sufficient, and all energy for the power supply and for heating the pools comes from renewable sources. Additionally, the excess heat is sold to the public heat grid. The owner of Wodny Park, RCGW S.A. (Regional

Center for Water and Wastewater Management) also operates a sewage treatment plant in Tychy, driven by three combined heat and power plants. The biogas for the aquapark is delivered through a 6km biogas pipe from the sewage treatment plant. The sewage treatment plant in Tychy produces enough biogas to cover its own demand and that of the heat and power supply of the large aquapark. In 2017, MWM Distributor Centrum Elektroniki

Stosowanej CES Sp. z o.o. equipped the Tychy Aquapark with two MWM TCG 2016 V08 gas engines during the construction phase of the aquapark. The two engines each have an electrical output of 400 kW and a thermal output of 433 kW. The heat and power are used to cover the demand of the aquapark. Instead of being extracted via dry coolers, the low-temperature heat from the intercoolers is used entirely for heating the water in the competition pool. In this way, the energy is used as efficiently as possible, and energy losses are avoided. The combined heat and power (CHP) plant was also equipped with heat buffers that are loaded when the heat demand of the swimming pools is lower and discharged when the heat demand surpasses the CHP production. A 1.1-MWth biogas boiler was supplied for heat demand peaks. For emergencies, the aquapark is also connected to the public heat grid.

Flexible Operation of CHP Plants Enables Control of Biogas Utilisation

After a few months of operation, it turned out that the sewage treatment plant produces enough biogas to install another engine. In 2019, Centrum Elektroniki Stosowanej CES Sp. z o.o. thus delivered an MWM TCG 3016 V08 gas engine with an electrical output of 400 kW and a thermal output of 428 kW to Wodny Park Tychy. All three CHP plants are suitable for parallel operation with the public power grid and for parallel operation with each other in island mode. The electrical energy generated in island mode is sufficient for the security operation of the swimming pools and the power supply of other areas such as the restaurant. RCGW S.A., the owner of the sewage treatment plant and the aquapark in Tychy, is glad to have the three cogeneration power plants at the aquapark and the other three cogeneration power plants at the sewage treatment plant. In this way, RCGW S.A. is able to flexibly control the utilization of biogas by switching the cogeneration power plants on and off depending on the respective demand. As the aquapark is connected to the public heat grid, it is even possible to feed in and sell excess heat from the aquapark. Especially in the summer months, there is plenty of excess heat to sell; in 2020, for example, more than 5,000 GJ was sold.

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