E.ON EnergieTotaal: horticulture businesses pluck the fruit RoCa pocket-power-station
Voorburg, 11 November 2002. At this year's Hortifair in the RAI exhibition complex in Amsterdam, E.ON Benelux unveiled a totally new concept for the horticulture industry: E.ON EnergieTotaal stands for the combined supply of electricity, heat and CO2. This concept uses innovative technology. It is deployed on a wide scale at the RoCa3-power station in Rotterdam on behalf of around 140 horticulture businesses in one of Holland's densest horticulture clusters. Combined production of electricity, heat and CO2-enriched flue gases means a higher yield than with separate generation. Now, E.ON Benelux Services has translated the experiences gained with this efficient process to a smaller scale with power and CO2 generated decentrally in the actual horticulture business. E.ON EnergieTotaal is realised in cooperation with Van Dijk Heating, Eclipse and Cogen Projects.
E.ON EnergieTotaal is based on an ingenious combination-principle. Electricity is generated by a compact gas turbine together with a directly driven generator. The flue gases emitted by the gas turbine are then after-burned by a specially developed incinerator. Once the hot and CO2-enriched flue gases have yielded up their heat in a separate spent-gas boiler - thus forming hot water - they flow away to the greenhouses for CO2-fertilisation. Hence, the system provides generation of electricity, heat and CO2, with a very high energy and environmental return.
With E.ON EnergieTotaal horticulture businesses can count on continual quality plus optimal adjustability. The highest level of availability is realised thanks to decentralised generation. The supply of made-to-measure energy products enables users to operate with maximum flexibility and independence. There's no need to worry about energy optimisation. Energy requirements are always and continually met in the most cost-effective and efficient way. There's no need for the horticulture business to actually operate or monitor the installation. We do this remotely at E.ON Benelux Services.
Not only is E.ON EnergieTotaal efficient, it is also cost effective. What happens is that E.ON Benelux Services does all the investing in hardware. The horticultural business only pays for the energy products used. This way there are no investment risks. On top of this E.ON minimises the operating costs of the system by technical optimisation of the processes.
E.ON Benelux is part of E.ON Energie, Europe's largest private power producer. Alongside electricity the company also produces steam, heat, demi water and CO2 for the market garden and glass horticulture industry as well as supplying energy related services.