In future, RWE Supply & Trading will use KOHLER-SDMO's emergency power generators for energy purposes. Thanks to RWE's solution, it will be possible to control the generators remotely in the future and previously unused power generation capacities can be developed.

Usually emergency power generators only step in if the public power supply fails. They can be found in numerous facilities such as hospitals or data centres. Experts estimate that Germany has a total of more than 5 gigawatts of installed capacity via emergency power generators. However, this capacity is not available to the electricity market because the gensets are only kept in reserve for use during infrequent power failures. As a rule, they are therefore hardly ever used. Nevertheless, they must be tested regularly.

Partnership between RWE and KOHLER-SDMO offers many benefits – for power grids and customers alike

RWE now optimises these test runs of the emergency generators and uses them to relieve the distribution grid by means of decentralised feed-in during high-load periods and to stabilise the transmission grid by maintaining or providing balancing power. This means that previously unused capacity can be tapped into in a sustainable and resource-efficient manner.

Future owners of emergency power generators will benefit from the partnership between RWE and KOHLER-SDMO in many ways. On the one hand, they can reduce the operating costs of the generators since  they give RWE limited rights of use. That means that KOHLER-SDMO offers them attractive benefits such as lower-cost services. In addition, the availability of the emergency generating units will improve, since the generators involved in the, by RWE optimized testruns, run at high or full load instead of parital load, as is otherwise often the case. “Wet-stacking” (unburned residues in the exhaust system) will  then be avoided due to the higher combustion temperatures. Usage by RWE also guarantees  that the emergency generators involved meet the latest technical standards and comply with the relevant regulatory requirements.

Customers can therefore be confident that they are purchasing generators that meet state-of-the art technical standards and fulfil the conditions of the connection network operators. In addition, a measuring unit is installed to capture the amount of fed-in electricity; which can then also be used for delimitation in accordance with the German Renewable Energy Sources Act. Furthermore, KOHLER-SDMO makes the obligatory entry of the generators into the market master data register as a service for the customer.

KOHLER-SDMO is Europe's No. 1 and the world's third largest producer of emergency power generators. The company, which is headquartered in Brest, France, offers solutions for emergency power supply with up to 4.5 megavolt amperes (MVA) output per unit. KOHLER-SDMO systems are mainly used in industry, in data centres and in public facilities. They have the so-called unit certificate, which documents conformity with the regulations of the connection network operator and allows electricity to be fed into the distribution network. This means that it is possible and permissible to feed the aggregate power into the distribution network.