A BRUGG GROUP COMPANY
Project
Many people still remember the city of Kinshasa as the place where George Foreman came up against Muhammad Ali in the legendary 1974 boxing match in the former Zaïre (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Nearly 40 years later, BRUGG pipes from Switzerland were able to be delivered to the DRC in central Africa for the first time in the fight against the tropical climate. As daytime temperatures nearly always exceed 30°C and the relative humidity is usually around 80%, corrosion was a constant problem in the past on the steel pipes insulated by hand that were used for the cooling pipes. We were finally able to convince the 5-star Hotel Memling to use our COOLFLEX pipes, which were ideal for the situation. Importantly, we were able to provide a full range of services, such as planning, tendering, transport organisation, installation training and supervision on-site.
Execution
As the hotel was kept open during the entire renovation phase and new challenges kept cropping up constantly, we very much needed the exceptional improvisational skills associated with Africa. Despite the numerous challenges, we were able to keep to the schedule without any problems and the system was successfully handed over to the customer.
On Wednesday, 13 October 2018, the district heating (CAD) and cooling (FAD) line in Sion (Switzerland) got the official green light.
The sun shone over the official celebrations, which were held together with the authorities, energy service providers, legal representatives and installers. The location of the festivities was symbolic – in front of the new buildings of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale university (often abbreviated as EPFL), which were under construction. Rather appropriately, EPFL is committed to the energy industry and the environment.
This ambitious project will be supplied by the future Sion waste incinerator, where waste will be used to produce 100 million kWh/year of thermal energy. This is the equivalent of 10 million litres of heating oil. This energy will mean a CO2 reduction of approx. 20,000 tons per year. After completion, the network is estimated to have 500 building connections, supplying around 10,000 households within a 20 km radius with energy.
