STEAG Energy Services (SES)

The energy company STEAG GmbH, Essen/Germany, is strengthening its position in the international growth market for renewable energy. On 1st July 2019, group subsidiary STEAG Energy Services GmbH (SES) acquired GILDEMEISTER energy solutions of DMG MORI, based in Bielefeld/Germany. The machine tool manufacturer DMG MORI entered the market for solar technology in 2007. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

“With the acquisition of GILDE-MEISTER energy solutions, we are strategically strengthening our service portfolio, especially around the photovoltaics megatrend. With GILDEMEISTER energy solutions’ extensive know-how and international network, we are taking a big step forward in this growth market”, states Joachim Rumstadt, Chair of the Executive Board at STEAG.

“GILDEMEISTER energy solutions will be in good hands. We are happy to have found in STEAG a strategic investor with an excellent perspective for our employees”, says Maurice Eschweiler, chief representative of DMG MORI. “Our focus is on our core skills as a sustainable, international innovator in the manufacturing industry.” Today, DMG MORI is focussing on its core business with machine tools and services and expanding in the cutting-edge fields of automation, digitalisation and additive manufacturing.

The employees of GILDEMEISTER energy solutions at the main site in Würzburg and the subsidiary companies in Stuttgart, Italy and Spain will be taken over by SES. The new company will trade under the name STEAG Solar Energy Solutions with the brand name SENS. “Photovoltaics is a cutting-edge field in which we want to continue growing as STEAG. I’m certain that we can use the project opportunities that are opening up to us even more successfully with SENS,” states Joachim Rumstadt, welcoming the newest member to the STEAG family. (STEAG/Si.)

In India, a population of more than 1.3 bn combined with strong economic growth are creating a huge demand for goods, services and raw materials. Developing the infrastructure, in particular unlimited access to electricity in rural regions, continues to pose a significant challenge. On 4th February 2019, at the invitation of STEAG GmbH, Essen/Germany, Prof. Andreas Pinkwart, Minister for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy in North Rhine-Westphalia, went to New Delhi/India to find out how a company from North Rhine-Westphalia could contribute to this undertaking (Figure 1).

The Minister for Economic Affairs was greeted at the India Habitat Centre in the Indian capital by Joachim Rumstadt, Chair of the Executive Board at STEAG. Rumstadt presented the concept of distributed and resource-conserving electricity generation on the basis of PV technology, which STEAG in India is currently offering. Prof. Pinkwart was accompanied by a trade delegation made up of further business representatives from North Rhine-Westphalia. “Economic growth requires energy that covers a wide area reliably,” said Rumstadt in his opening speech.

Since the 1990s, the Essen-based energy producer has been represented in India by its subsidiary STEAG Energy Services (SES) and offers expertise in all areas of the energy sector. Minister Pinkwart was clearly impressed, saying “The STEAG photovoltaic container is a good example of the innovative products that can be developed by combining skills and expertise from North Rhine-Westphalia and India. I hope that a great number of entrepreneurs from North Rhine-Westphalia will recognise and make use of the opportunities India is opening up as a future market.”

SES currently employs around 1,500 members of staff in India – more than in any other country outside Germany – and has been building up a strong network and local expertise over several years. STEAG has a solid understanding of the market in India and develops its own technical solutions. Minister Pinkwart was given the opportunity to experience one of these solutions first-hand in the form of a 6 m long and 2.45 m wide overseas container – a container-based hybrid photovoltaic system which, with the addition of batteries, can reliably provide electricity for up to 24 hours a day, with or without a grid connection (Figure 2).

“STEAG develops solutions for areas in India where social development and economic growth have come to a standstill,” said Rumstadt. In urban areas, the connection to the power grid is unreliable at best; some areas have no access to electricity at all. Despite the existence of plans and budgets, millions of people can still only dream of having even the most basic comforts. It was this that drove SES to develop its effective solar solution. The output is sufficient for 4 kWp.

The containers, pre-installed in India with robust technology, are quick and easy to set up and commission. First, the container acts as a transport container, which is used to transport the entire equipment. The storage space available at the destination is prepared in such a way that it can be used for a variety of functions.

STEAG will market this technical solution in India and African countries together with renowned Indian non-profit organisation “The Energy and Resources Institute (teri)”. Since the mid-1970s, the independent institute has been searching for sustainable solutions to continuously improve the living conditions of the Indian population.

STEAG handed over the first container to the Dr Nalin Singhal Memorial Foundation. It is currently being used in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. In the city of Gorakhpur, the photovoltaic system is reliably supplying electricity to a project run by non-governmental organisation (NGO) URJA Energy. URJA focusses on improving the living conditions and promoting the health of women. The project in Gorakhpur gives women work producing sanitary products in a small manufacturing facility. Power cuts used to be a daily occurrence and had a major impact on productivity. The STEAG container now provides a continuous supply of electricity. This is an impressive example of how experience and initiatives from North Rhine-Westphalia, combined with local knowledge and skills, can improve the living conditions of people in poor rural regions. (STEAG/Si.)

STEAG Energy Services GmbH (SES), Essen/Germany, has been enlisted jointly with Kraftanlagen Heidelberg to dismantle the core internals of the reactor vessel within the Mühleberg nuclear power plant (KKM) in Switzerland. The power station (Figure 1), situated 14 km to the west of Bern, is operated by BKW, an energy and infrastructure company with a presence in the global arena. The plant has an electrical power output of 373 MW and is scheduled to be taken offline towards the end of 2019. Decommissioning will commence in 2020. The contract awarded to the German consortium is valued at the lower end of the eight-figure range.

SES – STEAG GmbH’s service-providing subsidiary – and Kraftanlagen Heidelberg have been collaborating successfully for years now, e. g., in China. In Germany, too, they work together to decommission nuclear power plants. “We are delighted by the confidence that BKW has shown in the technical expertise of our consortium,” says Joachim Rumstadt, Chair of the Executive Board at STEAG GmbH.

The Swiss contract involves a task that is technically challenging. The power station was commissioned back in 1972. Its core internals are radioactive and must be dismantled under water. The tools employed for this job include plasma torches, allowing the process of dismantling the large metal internals to be controlled remotely. SES and Kraftanlagen Heidelberg will then pack the dismantled components for removal to an interim storage location. The dismantled components will be temporarily stored in the central, interim storage facility ZWILAG, in which SES had a controlling interest when it was set up in the 1990s. Decommissioning of the core internals is set to commence in 2020 and is expected to take two years.
(STEAG/Si.)

Comprehensive modernisation work is planned for the Pljevlja lignite-fired power station, situated approximately 5 km to the south-west of a town of the same name and near the Serbian border. The renovation will considerably aid an improvement in air quality in the industrial centre of Montenegro. STEAG Energy Services GmbH (SES), Essen/Germany, is planning this ecological project. German expertise shone through in an international tender process.

One of the primary tasks is the purification of flue gas by reducing sulphurous substances and nitric oxides in particular. New DeSO_X and DeNO_X systems will be installed. In addition, the project will involve the optimisation of existing electrostatic precipitators and the wastewater plant, and the remediation of the cooling tower. The tower currently contains asbestos and other substances that must be removed. The thorough modernisation process also involves a series of anti-noise measures. At the same time, the power station will be equipped to generate district heating. The contract, which is worth around 670,000 €, also involves conducting an environmental impact assessment, creating tender documentation and answering questions from bidders.

The contract was signed on 27th March 2018 in Montenegro (Figure 1). The Montenegrin Economic Minister, Dragica Sekulić, the Minister for Finance, Darko Radunović, and the Minister for Sustainable Development and Tourism, Pavle Radulović attended alongside representatives from both the companies involved. (STEAG/Si.)

STEAG Energy Services GmbH (SES), Essen/Germany, a company of the STEAG Group, took over the Krantz division from Caverion Deutschland GmbH on 1st January 2018. Krantz is a leader in the development, design, manufacture and marketing of high-tech ventilation, heating, cooling and clean room systems (HVAC market). End customers include companies in the nuclear field as well as industrial enterprises in other sectors within Germany and abroad. All 218 Krantz employees are to be taken on by the STEAG Group. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

With the integration of Krantz products and services, SES is focusing its further expansion on its market position as an engineering service provider and a supplier to the nuclear technologies segment. SES already has a broad customer base in this segment in Germany and Switzerland, and is well positioned in the field of nuclear technology. By acquiring Krantz, SES will benefit from its key technologies and expertise. In addition, SES will obtain access to previously undeveloped HVAC market segments, including in conventional areas of industrial plant construction and building services. SES will also be able to add to its international network in countries such as Japan and the United Kingdom.

SES acquired the Krantz division from Caverion Deutschland GmbH, a subsidiary of the Finnish public limited company Caverion Oyj. As the long-established Krantz brand enjoys an excellent reputation, the new business activities are being conducted under the name of Krantz GmbH. The total of 218 employees are based at two locations in North Rhine-Westphalia and one in Bavaria. The Krantz headquarters are situated in Aachen/Germany. (STEAG/Si.)