Russia and Germany: Sharing Experience

13:18, December 21, 2012

UrFU took part in German-Russian Forum on energy issues

Students and staff of Ural Federal University took part in the 4th German-Russian Forum "Energy efficient technologies for modernisation of communal infrastructure facilities", which was held 18 December in Ekaterinburg.

The forum was organized by the German-Russian energy agency "Rudea" and German energy agency "Dena".

There was also a German-Russian seminar "Case studies of thermal plant modernisation in Ekaterinburg and Halle" held at the University.  At the beginning of the seminar Rector of UrFU Viktor Koksharov welcomed Prof., Dr. h.c. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Rudolf Traub, Director of  Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Jörg Kisch of the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology of Germany, German businessmen, representatives of industrial companies and governmental officers.

Ralf Weber, Deputy Engineering Director of the public power supply network of Halle, spoke about the modernisation of a combined heat and power station.  According to Mr. Weber, to modernise a power station, a new aero-gas turbine and waste-heat boiler should be installed, and the steam turbine should be reconstructed applying modern highly efficient filters and a sound-suppression complex.

"Cooperation with German is crucial for us", Viktor Koksharov pointed out.  "One of the most exciting projects which we would like to realize with the help of our German colleagues is modernising the University's boiler station.  This project could be another success story for German-Russian cooperation in the sphere of energy engineering".

The Financial Director of the UrFU Research & Training Facility A.S.Rybachek presented a project of UrFU's boiler station modernisation - turning the boiler rooms into mini-CHPs based on steam-gas technologies.  "We believe that in Russia's climatic conditions CHP electricity production (cogeneration) is an ideal option, particularly at low capacities.  We think that all boiler stations with the capacity over 50 MW should be able to generate energy using their own thermal input".  

"We are training engineers for whom  knowledge of modern equipment is essential", says the Director of the Ural Power Engineering Institute Yury Brodov.  "As a part of this project we are planning to build a new, modern heat and power station to be used as a work as well as training facility for students of the Ural Energy Institute".