Providing high speed broadband services to Huenenberg residents, this futuristic rural fibre optic network ensures control of one of Europe’s largest biogas plants which makes this Swiss village a showcase for recyclable energy
INELTEC, Basel, September 13, 2011 – Draka, part of the Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cables and systems industry, today announces that its Swiss partner Drahtext AG has completed the initial phase of a futuristic rural community fibre network combining fibre to the home with environmental control for the village of Huenenberg in Zug, Switzerland.
Part of a showcase renewable energy project, Draka fibre connectivity not only ensures high speed broadband services to community residents, it forms the backbone to supply and control a substantial part of the energy demands of Huenenberg. The village biogas plant, one of the biggest plants in Europe, provides 15% of energy requirements. Its gas turbine, powered by biogas, will provide the community with nearly 600 kW of energy (300 kW of electrical and 300 kW of thermal energy).
“This is an entirely self-financed renewable energy project in which fibre interconnectivity plays a key role”, explains Roland Kurmann, Chairman of Drahtex.
” It’s a cooperative venture which brings community stakeholders together to invest in a future-oriented energy approach for the citizens of Huenenberg.”
With 9,000 inhabitants spread over an area of 18.5 km2, Huenenberg has a high proportion of agricultural activity. Draka JetNetXS blowing technology helped deploy the underground fibre infrastructure running alongside the biogas distribution network over a total network length of 4.5 km. Despite the challenge of jetting fibre over distances up to 5km, the fibre optic network has been installed rapidly and successfully. Thanks to the efficiency of the Draka JetNetXS technique, the fibre network is easily expanded to meet community energy management requirements as the output of the plant expands
Fibre connected, every component in the biogen heating plant is fully automated, with remote control availability from various sites. All processes within the plant can be monitored and controlled at any time.
In addition to manure supplied by the farmers, the biogas plant is fed with other readily available natural waste products in order to increase its efficiency. They include dung, grass, lawn-clippings, as well as biogenic industrial waste such as vegetable and food scraps from the industry, restaurants and inhabitants. Added to this are the leftovers of the local agricultural industry, such as spent grains, pomace and the remainders of the milling industry.
The manure is pumped directly from the farmer into the silo of the biogas plant by means of the underground distribution piping network. After processing, the manure is pumped back again to the farm providing the farmer with an odourless and nutritious fermented substrate with reduced weed seeds and causative organisms for the fertilization of his fields. But there is more environmental and odour protection: the amount of nutrients from the manure a farmer is allowed to spread onto his fields depends on the nutrient balance (size, number of animals, animal feed, etc.) of the farm. The volume of manure to be pumped back to the farm based on the nutrient analysis of the fermented manure is calculated automatically.
Microduct Blowing Technology allows higher cable densities within a fibre network, by using smaller diameter cables inside the microducts. Using the Draka technique, fibre can be blown up to 5 kilometres (as in the Huenenberg project) in a single session, at speeds exceeding 100 metres per second. Replacing traditional methods of pulling cable through ducts, compressed-air is a highly cost-effective and more reliable method of pushing fibre optics through multiducts, especially when long, uninterrupted lengths of installed cable are desired.
About DRAHTEX
DRAHTEX AG, headquarted in Wallisellen, Switzerland is a Product Distributor, Project Design, Management and Consulting company specialised in the development and production of cabling systemsandcomponentsfor telecommunication and low voltage cabling, datacommunication and security cabling communication technology and fibre optics networks including FTTH and FTTB customer design solutions.
Prysmian Group
Prysmian Group is world leader in the energy and telecom cables and systems industry. With sales of some €7 billion (pro-forma 2010 Prysmian/Draka) and 22,000 employees across 50 countries and 98 plants, the Group is strongly positioned in high-tech markets and provides the widest range of products, services, technologies and know-how. In the Energy sector, Prysmian Group operates in the business of underground and submarine power transmission cables and systems, special cables for applications in many different industrial sectors and medium and low voltage cables for the construction and infrastructure industry. In the Telecom sector, the Group manufactures cables and accessories for the voice, video and data transmission industry, producing optical fibres, optical cables and connectivity. Prysmian is listed on the Milan Stock Exchange in the Blue Chip index.
Information: www.draka.com/communications and www.prysmiangroup.com