The Apator Group with an innovative IT solution for the Słupsk Cluster
The aim of establishing the Słupsk Bioenergy Cluster, initiated by Wodociągi Słupsk, was to create and develop a local energy market. The initiative is designed to enable the optimal use of local energy from RES and to balance the energy supply across all utilities: electricity, heat and gas.
This is made possible by the developing infrastructure and the implementation of a modern IT system, which collects and monitors data from various sources in a single location and tool, enabling secure energy management and offering green solutions for the local market.
The primary beneficiary of the cluster solution is the local community, whilst the project participants include producers of electricity and heat from RES and conventional sources, as well as energy consumers, including the Trzy Fale Water Park in Słupsk, and the Apator Group, as the supplier of the innovative IT solution.
Concept
for the Słupsk Bioenergy Cluster
The proposed concept involves the generation of electricity and heat using Renewable Energy Sources: biogas plants, wind farms and photovoltaic power stations. The combustion of biogas, produced from sludge sourced from a sewage treatment plant, is made possible by the installed combined heat and power units. Throughout the process, most of the green electricity generated is fed into the grid or sold, whilst the heat is used for local heating applications, including heating water at the local water park. In line with the cluster’s objectives, the local entities operating within this framework are involved in the generation, consumption, storage and sale of Electricity, heat and fuels.
Obtaining measurement data for all utilities is key to the entire process, enabling the informed and rational management of processes relating to energy production, storage, use and distribution.
The system currently being implemented in the Słupsk Cluster will provide full control over the following processes:
- Network supervision – ongoing monitoring of the operational status of equipment, the operation of the heat and electricity distribution network, and network connection points;
- Acquisition of telemechanics data – tracking the current status of equipment monitoring the heat and electricity distribution network, displaying network status parameters along with graphical representations of these parameters;
- Acquisition of measurement data – acquisition of all measurement data necessary for balancing, reporting, alerting and billing, or for estimating the volume of heat or electricity production as well as distribution/supply;
- Operations – managing faults, distribution network management for work crews, reporting emergency and scheduled incidents, preparing work sites, monitoring working hours and the scope of work carried out;
- Management – reporting and analyses of events affecting the proper functioning of the network. Reporting carried out in real time and on demand, providing a comprehensive overview of the functioning of business processes for the production and distribution of electricity and heat.
A solution developed for the local market
The software, developed in cooperation between Wodociągi Słupskie and the Apator Group, is the first of its kind for the local market. It reflects the trend towards energy transition, namely the shift away from traditional, large-scale energy systems towards the creation of a product that will support local operations, enabling the use of local, eco-friendly resources for energy production and consumption.
The Słupsk Cluster is a project designed primarily to ensure lower energy costs for end users, improve energy security, enhance the local heating sector, and create better conditions for economic development, whilst reducing the carbon footprint of the local economy and local authorities, but above all, to achieve energy self-sufficiency, which, in an era of rising energy prices, is becoming a key challenge.