Reliable transitional supply of natural gas after flood disaster in the Ahr Valley
Over the past three months, work has been carried out at full speed to ensure the heat supply in households affected by the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley in July 2021. In time for the start of the heating season, a mobile gas supply concept assured natural gas supplies for around 1,600 households as an interim solution.
Fast action was required
The devastating flash flood in the Ahr Valley in July also completely destroyed large sections of the natural gas network. Reconstruction would normally take several years. Therefore, it quickly became clear to the responsible network operators that interim solutions had to be found promptly. In close cooperation with the Energy Agency of Rhineland-Palatinate, the University of Trier and the companies Plant Engineering, GasCom Equipment and Hotmobil, a concept for the interim supply was developed and within four weeks time it was possible to restore the interrupted natural gas network on a temporary basis.
Complex supply concept requires expert knowledge
GasCom Equipment specializes in mobile natural gas supply and has in-depth knowledge as well as many years of experience in this field. A particular challenge was the natural gas quality L required on site, which could only be implemented on this scale with LNG, liquefied, cryogenic natural gas of quality H with admixture of air. This required a complex interaction of various plant components, which GasCom was able to provide. Two redundant water bath heat exchangers were used to convert the LNG to the gaseous state, one of which was heated by a gas-fired mobile heating unit with a capacity of 950 KW. These were provided by Hotmobil, the rental specialist for mobile energy centers.
Convincing teamwork
The Hotmobil service technicians from the Bochum branch delivered the 950 kW mobile heating unit installed in a trailer, a 1,500 kW system separator and two mobile heat pumps, each with a capacity of 50 m³/h, to the site in the Ahr Valley and handled the commissioning in close cooperation with the GasCom technicians.
Heat supply for 1,600 households ensured
As early as October 14, 2021, around 1,600 households in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler and the surrounding area were successfully supplied from the tanker. Alexander Scholz, one of the two GasCom managing directors, is enthusiastic about the performance of his team and all the companies involved: "What we were able to put together here in a very short time fills me with pride and I am glad to have helped the people here in this way." René Wagemann, the field representative responsible at Hotmobil, is also very satisfied with the cooperation and has only words of praise for the successful teamwork.