EQOS Energie will construct 110-kV switchgear and revamp the associated 20-kV protection and control technology in real-life operation. This way, EQOS Energie makes a valuable contribution to the secure power supply of the Graz region and continues its growth in energy technology.
The next innovation project of EQOS Energie has been given the starting signal – once again in the future-oriented segment of energy technology. Energienetze Steiermark GmbH, the region’s leading network operator, has awarded EQOS Energie a commission for the comprehensive modernisation and renewal of its Lieboch substation near Graz, which consists of a 9-bay switchgear including longitudinal and transverse couplings. Publicly tendered, the commission includes system planning and renewal, disassembly of the old system and replacement of the associated 25-bay 20-kV protection and control technology. All work of this roughly EUR 1 million project will be performed in real-life operation. The construction and fitting work will start as early as August 2021 while completion of the modernised substation is scheduled for October 2022.
Due to the continued growth of the region around Graz, demand for electrical energy is increasing just as it is in so many other cities. With this project award, EQOS Energie not only succeeded once more in continuing its successful path in the crisis-proof business field of energy technology but also in making a significant contribution to safeguarding an effective regional energy supply in Styria’s industrial region.
Uwe Trampnau, Managing Director for the Energy Technology division at EQOS Energie: “Cities and large urban areas depend on a highly effective energy and power supply, now more than ever in the digital age. Therefore, we are particularly pleased as a construction company for electrical systems that we are entrusted by our customer Energienetze Steiermark to render their regional power grids even more effective and fit for the future, thereby further increasing supply certainty for the entire Graz region and surroundings.”
Substation modernisation to result in greater supply and operational certainty
The existing 110-kV open-air switchgear of the Lieboch substation with its many base components dates all the way back to 1979. Therefore, it was necessary to plan a comprehensive renewal programme in order to safeguard network selectivity – an important network protection function – and also to ensure a high degree of operational reliability now and in future. Furthermore, the renewal will also increase thermal transmissibility and resistance to short-circuiting. As part of the remodeling and rearrangement work, EQOS Energie will execute the entire primary technology, which will include planning, as well as the secondary technology. “We are responsible for the entire steel construction of the switchgear, all technical assembly steps, preliminary inspections and the disassembly of the old system with precision control,” said Markus Mairhofer, head of the Substations Austria profit center, the unit in charge of the commission in the Energy Technology division at EQOS Energie.
All working steps will take place during real-life operations within the confines of a very tight schedule. “At any given moment, two transformers will be kept operational so that the substation can remain functional during the remodeling project. For us, this requires perfect planning and the greatest precision in each of the steps involved. In order to handle the project as efficiently as possible, I and my team will work with three interconnected sections of construction, and we will start the first two as early as August of this year. I am looking forward to the new challenge,” Mairhofer added.