Four combined heat and power plants around the sewage treatment plant of the municipal waste association (GAV) Amstetten are already being fired with the digester gases and supplying electricity. Energie is already self-sufficient, although there are seasonal fluctuations.
“Because there is less gas in the summer, we have to buy additional electricity during these months,” says GAV Managing Director Günter Zeilinger. The gap in supply during the warm season has now been closed. Photovoltaic cells were installed on the roofs of the company buildings, which convert solar radiation into electricity. Thanks to the use of solar energy, the GAV will not only fill its “summer slump” in generating electricity, but will also feed surpluses into the grid. “We have been 100 percent energy self-sufficient since March 2020,” says Zeilinger, “now we will also be able to sell electricity into the grid as a clean producer.”
Around 20 million liters of waste water are cleaned every day via the Amstetten association sewage treatment plant. When it comes to breaking down biological dirt, the annual mean cleaning level is a whopping 99 percent. The plant employs 17 people.
Source: Nachrichten
