Transformers to heat
a London school
The transformer factory in Weiz, Austria, will ship environmentally friendly,
400-kilovolt ester transformers with a waste heat utilization system to London
siemens.com/energy/transformers
In February 2014, a British distribution grid operator
commissioned the Siemens transformer factory in
Weiz and the British regional company »Siemens
Transmission and Distribution Ltd.« to deliver, assemble, and commission three autotransformers.
Due to the location of the new transformer substation
to be built in the British metropolis’ densely populated
downtown area, the entire installation will be completely
encapsulated. A special feature of the components from
Weiz is that the 240-MVA, 400/132-kV transformers
will be filled with ester for both cooling and insulation
purposes – an environmentally friendly alternative to
conventional mineral oil. Ester can be produced from
vegetable oils such as soy, sunflower, or rapeseed oil as
well as by the esterification of alcohol and acids. The
benefits of this environmentally friendly solution are that
the insulating fluid is fully biodegradable, and the residual
risk of an explosion or a fire in the event of a malfunction
is dramatically reduced.
Schematic of the project: The substation building where the transformers will be installed is shown in the middle of the illustration.
The school that will be supplied with waste heat by the heat recovery
system to be delivered is shown at the upper left edge of the image
Practical use of waste heat
to an elementary school building adjacent to the transformer substation.
In conventional cooling systems for transformers, all
thermal losses that arise during idling and operation are
discharged into the environment unused. In the current
project, the waste heat is to be used by a heat recovery
system in order to supply environmentally friendly energy
The Weiz plant began implementing the project imme­
diately after the contract was awarded in February 2014.
The transformers are scheduled for delivery in the
summer of 2015. Assembly and commissioning by the
customer are expected to take place in March 2016.
Siemens AG
Energy Sector
Power Transmission Division
Transformers
Erwin Rauch
Erwin.Rauch@siemens.com
Publisher and copyright 2014:
Siemens AG
Energy Sector
Freyeslebenstrasse 1
91058 Erlangen, Germany
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