The GETEC Group, which was founded in 1993, now combines six subsidiaries including their shareholdings under the roof of the group’s parent company. One of them, GETEC Heat & Power, is now expanding its portfolio of services for industrial and chemical parks: With the new “GETEC Infra“ division, the company from Magdeburg is not only taking charge of the energy supply, but also of services such as network infrastructure, logistics, fire service, security protection, hazardous substances and many more. CHEManager talked to executive board spokesperson Volker Schulz about the challenges and objectives of the new division.

CHEManager: Mr. Schulz, what are the reasons why an energy service provider would want to become a site operator?

V. Schulz: With GETEC Infra’s range of services, it is possible to look at the location corporate-wide and in its entirety. In so doing, synergistic effects are generated between the companies, efficiency measures realised and savings potentials increased.

Nowadays, large chemical companies mainly focus on their core business. Sub- and/or secondary productions are divested and/or sold to private investors. As a result, a chemical site managed by a single owner is turned into an industrial park that consists of many companies with very different demands on the infrastructure operator. As a consequence, the resident companies are often forced to create their own supply concepts and infrastructure-related procedures. This is inefficient, which is precisely why we are addressing this issue.

What does GETEC Infra's range of services include?

V. Schulz: The needs of an industrial park can be grouped by priorities. They are divided by core area, expanded core area and options. In so doing, we are offering the services for the core area as well as the expanded area with its own value creation. The core area includes, above all, the energy supply, which includes electricity, steam, heat, refrigeration, technical gases and fuel management. However, the core area also comprises the network infrastructure for supply media, lighting, media, technical afterburning with exhaust air, thermal use of special gases as well as the administration and billing of all infrastructure services.

Designated partners are tasked with the contractual phases outside of the group´s core area. This includes the areas water and wastewater, fire services, company protection squad and company medical officer as well as logistics, transport, distribution and facility management. Marginal areas such as the cafeteria are part of the options. These areas are available regionally on the market and we can purchase them additionally for the specific project.

What makes GETEC Infra appealing to industrial parks?

V. Schulz: In addition to taking care of the infrastructure for industrial parks and providing access to the energy markets, the services of the complete package also include transparent and fair pay as well as simultaneous monitoring of the systems from the control room and on site. And all this is achieved with a small number of contacts and a streamlined personnel plan. We are thus able to utilise synergies and save costs. But of course one of our biggest advantages is our expertise, most notably our experience in the area of industrial parks.

How important is your core business, the energy services, in this respect?

V. Schulz: Energy services are an essential part of the overall concept. The energy supply is one of the most important site-related factors in industrial parks. Our employees possess specific know-how and many years of experience in the energy services industry. To optimise the energy supply and increase energy efficiency potentials, it is often wise to take over the energy generation facilities that are in place or to be established for the site and to optimise them. In addition, the supply of primary energies such as natural gas and electricity is offered with the structured purchase via balancing groups of GETEC. Another focus is the generation of efficiency procedures for the industrial site, aimed at improving the companies' economic and energy-related situations. The customer’s production process is reviewed for energy savings potentials and they are analysed, consolidated and improved. To this end, we are contributing our experience with the recovery of heat, particularly heat transformation. For instance, we can develop a customised, comprehensive energy concept for the companies present in the industrial park, which is at once economical and environmentally friendly.

What is your experience with chemical companies so far?

V. Schulz: We are already supplying several companies in the chemical industry with energy. An example: For instance, we set up a natural gas-based system for the generation of steam and for heating thermal oil, which is required in the production at a temperature of 340°C, for the company Haltermann Carless Deutschland in Speyer. The storage and handling of the Haltermann products produce a vent gas, which up until now has been burned. To solve this problem, our engineers developed a customised technical solution: The vent gas is integrated into the combustion process of the thermal oil system and used to generate heat. The high-calorie gas has a heating value that comes close to that of natural gas. Around 2.5 MW of rated thermal input can thus be converted into useful energy and saved in natural gas.

GETEC has also established a new power station in the Zeitz Industrial and Chemical Park in Saxony-Anhalt.

V. Schulz: Correct. From autumn 2016, we will be supplying power, steam and heat to several companies at that location. For this purpose, GETEC set up and is operating an industrial cogeneration plant at the companies Puralube and Infra-Zeitz resident there in the context of its energy service contracting. GETEC had already put into operation an industrial  cogeneration plant there in 2013. The company Radici Chimica Deutschland required a new energy supply. Not only was it supposed to be economical and environmentally friendly, but achieve an individual added benefit similar to the systems set up at Haltermann. As we have done previously, we developed an innovative technology for Radici, with which the laughing gas produced in the production is thermally broken down. This helps avoid the emission of nearly 100,000 tons of CO₂ equivalents each year. This also contributes to the sustainability policies of the Radici Group.

How do you think the situation will develop over the coming years?

V. Schulz: In the past several years we were able to expand our expertise. In the meantime, we are the market leader in the development of technical solutions for the thermal recycling of lean, special and greenhouse gases. In view of the increasingly more challenging and changing requirements, there is a growing need for innovative solutions for companies operating in energy-intensive industries, which certainly include chemical companies. We intend and will be one of the players in this market.