MTU Onsite Energy Standby Power Systems Improve Reliability and Efficiency of Fairfax County Wastewater Pumping Stations
One of the nation’s largest—and cleanest—sanitary sewer systems now provides more efficient and reliable service to thousands of buildings throughout the county, thanks to new backup power systems featuring state-of-the-art generators from MTU Onsite Energy. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recognized Fairfax County for its leadership in protecting the water quality of Chesapeake Bay.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Virginia—Fairfax County’s wastewater system serves an area covering more than 230 square miles and can collect and clean more than 160 million gallons of wastewater per day from about 340,000 homes and businesses. The wastewater management system consists of approximately 3,200 miles of pipe, dozens of pumping stations and several treatment facilities. When the 30-year-old emergency standby generators at three wastewater pump stations required upgrading, project officials determined it was more cost-efficient to completely replace the units with standby power systems from MTU Onsite Energy than to make the needed upgrades to the existing generators. The new units bring backup power online much faster, and they are more compact, easier to maintain and easier on the environment than their predecessors.
Pumping stations get new backup power systems
The Wastewater Collection Division’s Pumping Stations Branch operates and maintains the wastewater pump stations, flow meters, a large-pressure sewer system and several facilities that add chemicals to control odor and corrosion.Unmanned and completely automated, each of the Fairfax County pump stations requires a standby power source that automatically comes online to keep the pumps running and wastewater flowing through the collection system when utility power is lost.
Recently, Cynergy Electric Company Inc., an electrical contractor in Crofton, Maryland, completed a yearlong project for ALPHA Construction Company, Upper Marlboro, Maryland, to replace old backup power systems at three of the pumping stations. The original contract called only for upgrades and repairs of the existing standby generators at the three pumping stations. But after completing a cost-benefit analysis, officials at ALPHA recommended replacing the existing generators instead of upgrading the old ones. The benefits of improved response time, reliability and reduced maintenance far outweighed the additional investment for the new units. The 30-year-old compressed-air-start units used low-speed diesel engines compared to new generators that use 1,800 rpm high-speed diesel engines. Low-speed engines are slow to respond to load changes and take a long time to reach operating temperature. When called on to carry loads at the pumping stations, the old units took almost 15 minutes to start and assume load, according to Dave Ashburn, president of Cynergy.
The age of the existing units also made them expensive and difficult to maintain. “Those units are no longer manufactured, so any replacement parts had to be custom made,” said Ashburn. In addition, he said, the old generators were physically large by today’s standards, and their large compressed-air-start systems took up still more of the limited space inside the pumping stations. The old units also lacked any type of emissions control, since they predated EPA emissions standards for that type of equipment.
Contractor chooses MTU Onsite Energy generators
Given the old age and performance deficiencies of the existing units, Cynergy designed and installed new backup power systems, which included new generators, switchgear, batteries and battery chargers. For the generators, Cynergy turned to Curtis Engine & Equipment Inc., a Baltimore-based distributor for MTU Onsite Energy that supplies emergency standby power systems in the Mid-Atlantic region.“We have a very good relationship with Curtis and have installed numerous MTU Onsite Energy products,” said Ashburn.
To download the complete text and high-resolution photos for this case study, go to: www.cccinc.com/pr/mtuonsite/fairfax
Faster response time from MTU Onsite Energy generator sets, plus improved reliability and reduced maintenance, make it more cost-efficient to install new systems than to upgrade existing units at Fairfax County’s wastewater system. Photo credit: Fairfax County.
MTU Onsite Energy standby power systems installed at Fairfax County wastewater pumping stations operate at 1,800 rpm, or twice the speed of the units they replaced. The new generator sets also feature state-of-the-art electronics and will start and accept load within 10 seconds. Photo credit: Fairfax County.
A motor-starting study determined that the pump stations needed MTU Onsite Energy generators with three different generating capacities, ranging from 1,000 kW to 1,750 kW. Photo credit: Fairfax County.
To download the complete text and high-resolution photos for this case study, go to: www.cccinc.com/pr/mtuonsite/fairfax
MTU Onsite Energy Corporation
MTU Onsite Energy Corp. (formerly Katolight Corporation) is a leading producer of diesel-powered generator sets from 30 to 3,250 kW and natural gas-powered generator sets from 20 to 400 kW for standby, prime power and cogeneration applications. The company also provides automatic transfer switches, paralleling switchgear, controls and accessories for complete power system solutions. Based in Mankato, Minnesota, MTU Onsite Energy Corp. combines the expertise of Katolight and MTU DetroitDiesel Power Generation under one brand to meet the ever-increasing distributed power needs of customers in North America and around the world. MTU Onsite Energy Corp. is part of the Tognum Group’s business unit, Onsite Energy and Components. For more information, visit www.mtu-online.com
Tognum
With its two business units, Engines and Onsite Energy & Components, the Tognum Group is one of the world’s leading suppliers of engines and propulsion systems for off-highway applications and of distributed energy systems. These products are based on diesel engines with up to 9,100 kilowatts (kW) power output, gas engines up to 2,150 kW, stationary fuel cells up to 345 kW and gas turbines up to 45,000 kW.
The product portfolio of the Engines business unit comprises MTU engines and propulsion systems for ships, for heavy land, rail and defense vehicles and for the oil and gas industry. The portfolio of the Onsite Energy & Components business unit includes distributed energy systems of the brand MTU Onsite Energy and fuel-injection systems from L’Orange. The energy systems comprise diesel engines for emergency standby power, prime power and continuous power, as well as cogeneration power plants based on gas engines, fuel cells and gas turbines that generate both power and heat.
In 2009, Tognum generated revenue of €2.5 billion and employs more than 8,700 people. Tognum has a global manufacturing, distribution and service structure with 27 fully consolidated companies, more than 140 sales partners and over 500 authorized dealerships at approximately 1,200 locations. The shares of Tognum AG (ISIN: DE000A0N4P43) have been stock-exchange listed since 2007 and are included in the MDAX.
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