Ormazabal solution ensures reliable energy supply for food centre in Germany

Edeka Rhein-Ruhr, a regional group in the German retail sector, is investing 100 million euros in Moers, North Rhein-Westphalia, and developing a state of the art local supply center on 125,000 m² of land. Almost 6,000 kVA of transformer capacity will ensure the power supply there. Ormazabal’s Solutions Team has put together a complete package for the medium-voltage components used in the transformer stations, including protection technology, which is specially tailored to the local conditions and the requirements of the network operator. 

The new local supply center will include food retailing, parking and administration. In future, all local activities of Edeka Rhein-Ruhr will be based there and around 700 people will work in the centre, the opening of which is planned for the second half of 2021. Around 5,500 customers per day are expected in the new test store, where new products and developments for food retailing, such as optimized checkout processes, will be tried out before being rolled out to other stores.

Ormazabal‘s Partner Elektrotechnik Eimers GmbH was commissioned with the construction of the entire medium-voltage distribution and transformer stations. For many years, Eimers has relied on medium-voltage technology from Ormazabal to equip its transformer stations. In this project, Ormazabal supported with MV switchgear, individually configured for the project: Four transformer stations, including two distribution stations with gae switchgear and two substations with compact ga switchgear, with a total installed transformer capacity of almost 6,000 kVA, will supply the building complex with electricity.

The responsible energy supplier has laid medium-voltage supply lines on the site especially for the new building so that the new distribution stations can be integrated by ring connection. One of the central distribution stations will supply the administration complex, the car park and the outdoor facilities with lighting and charging points for e-cars, while the other covers the Edeka Centre, the business premises of the concessionaires and the data centre. The site is extensive and some of the low-voltage cabling would have had to be laid over a distance of several hundred metres. Therefore each of the central distribution stations were connected to another substation, which was strategically placed on the site to saves effort and costs during installation.

Ormazabal prepared the line feeder cubicles installed in the two central distribution stations for the use of remote control technology. For this purpose, the cable fields were motorized and a 60VDC UPS system integrated in the relay box was used. Comparable products available on the market require a separate cabinet, which, takes up space and requires additional cabling, which is not necessary with the Ormazabal system. Medium voltage circuit breaker feeder panels were equipped with Ormazabal’s in-house protection technology, which was also configured to meet the network operator’s project-specific specifications. The ekor.rpa-120 digital multifunctional protection device was used for the power disconnector cable feeder panels to the substations. “With this, in addition to the usual overcurrent protection, we can also map the required indication of ground fault direction detection. Previously, Eimers relied on two individual protection devices from another manufacturer for this purpose, but we were able to combine both functions in one application“, Ormazabal Solutions Manager Thomas Höfkens explains. In the circuit breaker feeder panels to the transformers, ekor.rpa110 protective devices provide overload and short-circuit protection. Ormazabal tested the protection technology with the customer specified settings in its own factory before delivery to Eimers, so that additional testing on site at the customer’s premises is not necessary.

For the trouble-free operation of the supermarket, administration and especially the data centre, fail-safety is of great importance. Accordingly protection technology was designed so that in the event of fault occurence, only the affected section is disconnected from the grid.  The fault-free outgoing feeders remain connected, which ensures the best possible supply for the entire building complex during network operation.