Weidmüller

Select website

Corporate Website (English)
Australia & New Zealand
België
Belgique
Brasil
Canada
Česká Republika
Danmark
Deutschland
España
France
India
Italia
Magyarország
México
Middle East
Nederland
North America
Österreich
Polska
Portugal
România
Schweiz
Singapore
Suomi
Sverige
Türkiye
United Kingdom
Россия
대한민국
中国
日本
Other websites
Product Catalogue
  • Home
  • Corporate
  • Industries
  • Products
  • Career
  • Press
  • Service
Let’s connect.
  • Product innovations
  • Automation & Digitalisation Solutions
  • Electronics and automation
  • Connectivity
  • PCB terminals and connectors
  • Klippon® Protect enclosure system
  • Workplace Solutions
  • Tools
  • Systemised marking
  • PUSH IN
  • References and expert articles
    • In Focus
    • References
      • Strong partnership between Weidmüller and meteocontrol
      • Fully automatic – and in keeping with all the laws of brewing
      • The terminal block of the future
      • Distributed safety compactly bundled
      • Wanted: a complete solution – found: an automation partner
      • Power comes to light
      • Best climate with the right connection technology
      • Marking in the configuration process
      • Powerful "sunroof"
      • Signals in safe hands
      • Plenty of room for manoeuvre in the system – no room for manoeuvre in the packaging
      • Transparent energy management
      • The smallest particles solve the greatest riddles
      • Environmental conditions of superlatives
      • Precision in motion
      • Uncompromisingly powerful and safe
      • Efficiency gains in the bag
      • A modular distributor system for initiators and actuators
      • High-performance production processes
      • Clever bottling
      • A lot of power over a long-lasting service life
      • Reduced to the max
      • u-remote promotes efficient powder coating
      • LED system solution cuts an impressive figure in pilot installations
      • Photovoltaics make water treatment "greener"
      • Subsequent expansions made easy
      • Single track to success
      • Everything in flow with device design
      • Universal cabinet system: a solution based on partnership
      • Advantages that do not evaporate
      • Smart PCB terminal for intelligent cloud-based control
      • Hand-in-hand approach for the pharmaceutical industry
      • Safety is a top priority even in miniature machines
      • Intuitive system configuration – designed to inspire
      • Keeping a track on safety
      • State-of-the-art production methods for a traditional speciality
      • Systemised marking in all industrial applications
      • A suitable power level for every type of performance
      • Ideally equipped with an efficient emergency lighting system
      • A cutting-edge solution for initiators and actuators
      • The key factor – functional reliability
      • Efficient newspaper winding
      • Wireless communication, smooth palletisation
      • Handy for materials handling
      • Brilliant connections for inspirational device design
      • Safe flow of traffic even during thunder and lightning
      • Pre-assembled functional units quickly and flexibly connected
      • Seamless aluminium production thanks to precise signals
      • Flexible connection systems for seamless integration in photovoltaic plants
      • A bright solution
      • Maintaining the flow of tyre production using integrated metal marking
      • Automation in warehouse logistics
      • Uplifting solution: Airplane maker won over by multivoltage input
      • Technical tour de force by team
      • Pinpoint adjustment for wafer-thin foils
      • With high-performance directly onto the printed circuit board
      • Packing density 2.0: High-performance compact connectors
      • One for all – and all in the Ex zone
      • Global knowledge network – across national and climatic borders
      • See well and work safely
      • Easy construction of complex networks
      • Clear marking, clear water
      • Easy wiring for heavy industry
      • A gain in safety
      • The best shaped functional integration
      • Secure, solid, specific
      • Supply and communication in the ship’s control system
      • Safe enclosures for rough seas
      • Minimum size, maximum function
      • Innovative illumination with long-lasting hardware
      • High-speed with HighPower
      • Successful device design by integrating competences
      • Electrical connectivity and marking systems for Desiro ML
    • Expert articles
  • Orange Selection
  • Industrial Analytics
HomeProductsReferences and expert articlesReferencesPhotovoltaics make water treatment "greener"

Photovoltaics make water treatment "greener"

Covering an area the size of five football fields, the 3 MW system on the roof of the Aquiris water treatment plant is the largest of its kind in Belgium. Combiner boxes from Weidmüller help ensure that the 10,000 installed photovoltaic modules generate top-notch output exceeding 3.2 MW.

 

The roughly 1.4 million inhabitants of the Brussels capital region produce around 275 million litres of wastewater every day. An annual total of 182 MWh is needed to treat this volume of water in the Aquiris treatment plant. To ensure that this energy is generated in the most environmentally friendly way possible, hydroelectric power and biogas production were recently supplemented by a photovoltaic system on the roof of the wastewater treatment plant. Together, these three technologies now cover a quarter of the overall electricity required for treating the wastewater.

Continuous performance transparency

Three 1 MW inverters from the Finnish manufacturer VACON® provide a clean supply of energy into the national electricity grid. A crucial advantage here is the "Multimaster" concept with which VACON® ensures that the photovoltaic system always generates the maximum output in line with the sun's intensity at any given time.

There is always high transparency in regard to the system status and electricity generation of the inverters. Thanks to remote monitoring and communication via Modbus TCP/RTU, the operator can track the output profile online and receives notifications of the latest developments via SMS text messages. Downtimes can therefore be minimised efficiently.

Monitoring of individual strings

Within the framework of this monitoring, the 60 combiner boxes that VACON® sourced from Weidmüller play a decisive role. Installed between the solar modules and the inverter, they interconnect the electricity generated. This allows the power intensity of individual strings to be monitored for diagnostic purposes, so that low-output strings can be identified and serviced extremely rapidly.

"On the basis of recurring customer requirements, we have already developed numerous tried and tested configurations for photovoltaic systems. This is how we managed to fulfil the VACON® requirements directly with pre-wired combiner boxes," reports

 Weidmüller managed to fulfil the VACON® requirements directly with pre-wired combiner boxes

Weidmüller managed to fulfil the VACON® requirements directly with pre-wired combiner boxes

Rudi Vanderstraeten, Industry Manager at Weidmüller, who advised VACON® during the project. "Thanks to the configuration of components for surge protection and string monitoring, our customer benefits from a holistic system solution that is particularly easy to implement in the existing SCADA topography. So not only is there clarity in water treatment, but energy generation on the roof is totally clear and sorted too."

 

Guests from the Land of the Rising Sun

A water treatment system that autonomously covers its electricity requirement in three different ways – this is definitely something special. In any case, it certainly impressed Weidmüller’s Japanese customers who visited the photovoltaics plant in Belgium.

“On a visit to our production facilities and in-house laboratory, we were able to give our guests from Japan a fairly good idea of the high quality standards we apply when we’re developing and producing our photovoltaics solutions. And the subsequent visit to Belgium served only to prove that our standards are continually upheld in application,” explains Klaus Holterhoff, Head of Weidmüller’s Application-Specific Solutions Division. “On the roof of the water treatment plant, the main focus was the installed combiner boxes, which we tailored especially to the plant’s specific requirements and its particular location.”

 Japanese visitors get an insight into the installation of combiner boxes in Belgium

Japanese visitors get an insight into the installation of combiner boxes in Belgium

Clearly inspired by the photovoltaics solutions they examined, Weidmüller’s guests have already initiated some new projects of their own in Japan. Marubeni, for example, is relying on Weidmüller’s photovoltaics solutions, from the strings to the control room, in what is presently an 82 MW plant. By and large, the so-called “Land of the Rising Sun” is one of the most important markets for solar energy. Indeed, the generation of solar power is a highly relevant national project for the fifth-largest consumer of energy in the world.

 

You might also be interested in:

 

Products and solutions for photovoltaic systems

Combiner boxes: perfect solution for individual requirements

Interview: "Increased focus on renewable energies"

Published in April 2015

Share with your network:
Print Page
Copyright Weidmüller Interface GmbH & Co. KG | Klingenbergstraße 16 | D-32758 Detmold
Corporate
Industries
Products
  • Corporate Profile
  • Management
  • Customer Magazine WIN!
  • Fairs
  • Corporate History
  • Certification
  • Locations worldwide
  • Machinery
  • Process
  • Energy
  • Transportation
  • Device Manufacturer
  • Electronics and automation
  • Connectivity
  • Device connectivity
  • Enclosure system
  • Tools
  • Systemised marking

Weidmüller

Klingenbergstraße 16

D-32758 Detmold

Germany

+49 5231 14-0

+49 5231 14-292083

Let's connect.

 

Imprint

Purchasing and supplier information

Privacy Statement