REFERENCE PROJECT
Electricity, heating and cooling
Energy technology in the climbing hall rests on several shoulders
TASK
In sports buildings, high overall energy requirements and particularly sensitive temperature and ventilation conditions place complex demands on the building services. At the “Die Kletterei” climbing and bouldering hall in Kaufering, Bavaria, which was built in 2016/17, a combined heat and power plant plays a key role.
Due to the weather, it is not always possible to safely practice mountaineering in the nearby alpine mountains. So in 2016/17, Kletter- und Boulderparadies am Lech GmbH built a climbing and bouldering gym in Kaufering to meet the region’s need for a safe training environment all year round. Other parts of the complex include an apartment, offices and a restaurant. The founder and managing director of the facility, Markus Wasserle, worked with the Landsberg and Kaufering chapters of the German Alpine Club (DAV) to design the equipment for the leisure and sports facility. A key requirement of the design was to conserve energy and resources, going beyond what is required by law and building regulations. With Rössle-Technikplanung – Wärme, Luft, Wasser – a competent partner was found for the planning of the building services. The office has been carrying out TGA design for almost 50 years, and in 2012 even set up a co-operative to involve, support and guide young engineers/technicians.
SOLUTION
The building fit-out was realised in three construction phases:
- Basic installation with gas condensing boiler and hot water.
- The prerequisites (piping and peripherals) for cooling the building are in place.
- Installation of cooling and CHP.
From 2019, the CHP unit will provide the base load and the condensing boiler will provide the peak load. The heat supplied by the CHP (and possibly the gas condensing boiler) is practically not only used for heating the “climbing hall” in winter. In summer, a 25 kW Fahrenheit adsorption chiller is fed from a storage tank that is continuously heated to 80°C. As the neoTower® operates in modulating mode over a wide power range (from 10.7 kW electrical and 29.1 kW thermal), intermittent operation with frequent starts is largely avoided. The device goes through long phases. This is important not least in the interests of a high level of self-sufficiency, which is extremely lucrative for the operator and ensures a manageable payback period.
The neoTower® 20.0’s long maintenance interval of only every 6000 hours also contributes to low running costs. Service can also be ‘automated’ by choosing one of three different service contract models. The climbing centre operator opted for the cost-effective Basic Maintenance contract, which includes comprehensive services and remote monitoring. Designed to be extremely quiet ex works, the CHP unit was made so quiet by a structure-borne sound decoupling system with Sylodyn strips underneath and an ASD-17 absorption silencer set in DN 80 from ATEC that it is virtually unnoticeable in the climbing hall itself. ATEC also supplied the rest of the exhaust system for the CHP unit.
CONCLUSION
The basic power and heat requirements of the Kaufering bouldering and climbing centre are met by a clever combination: A neoTower® CHP unit, a gas condensing peak-load boiler and a photovoltaic system contribute to the highly efficient generation of electricity and heat and, with the help of an adsorption chiller, also to cooling in summer.
The investor and operator of the “Die Kletterei” hall, Markus Wasserle, is very satisfied with the overall concept of the plant and praises the “far-sighted planning by the TGA planning office Rössle” and in particular the cooperation and service of the CHP manufacturer RMB/ENERGIE: “The cooperation with RMB worked excellently! I can only recommend concluding a direct maintenance contract.
OVERVIEW
| Customer: | Die Kletterei |
| Field of application: | Sports centre |
| Location: | Kaufering |
| Combined heat and power plant: | 1x neoTower® 20.0 |
| Gas type: | Natural gas |
| Rated output – electrica: | 20,0 kW |
| Rated output – thermal: | 45,8 kW |