Sewage gas to power waste plant

Upgrades at the Austrian plant will include the supply of control, measurement and analysis systems from Siemens. That will help generate energy for the wastewater plant via sewage gas taken directly from the main sewage facility.

Christian Gantner, director-general of the main sewage plant, said: “Our conversion of the wastewater treatment plant into a green power plant makes a valuable contribution to both a responsible use of natural resources and to sustainable power generation.”

Upon completion, the main sewage plant is expected to have enough capacity to generate 78GW of electricity and 82GW of thermal electricity, saving roughly 40,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, Siemens said.

Chief executive officer of Siemens Austria Wolfgang Hesoun said the company was focusing much of its efforts with this project on energy efficiency, preservation of resources and sustainability, as well as on smart technologies and networked systems.

The project will be fully operational by 2020, Siemens said, and will also include its electrical energy systems and its Ethernet-based communication interfaces. The cost of the upgrade stands at €24 million (£16.8m).