Modernization of the CHP plant at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Neuss

In 1995, 29 years ago now, an award-winning combination of a natural gas CHP unit and an absorption chiller was installed in what was then the Swissôtel on the banks of the Rhine in Neuss. The supplier of the CHP unit at the time was August Storm GmbH & Co. KG (STORM). Since commissioning, STORM, one of the largest OEM-independent service providers for combustion engines, has been responsible for the maintenance and servicing of the engine and plant technology.

The CHP unit, the absorption refrigeration system and other areas of the building services had already been found to be in urgent need of refurbishment the previous year, after approximately 28 years of operation. Among other things, the CHP units had to undergo a general overhaul, the CHP unit control system and the entire CHP unit cabling had to be replaced, the absorber had to be replaced with a more efficient model, two natural gas peak load boilers had to be replaced and extensive piping and fittings in the system periphery had to be renovated. All this while taking into account the increased fire protection requirements in recent years.

The property owner and its general planner held extensive discussions with the long-standing service partner STORM, in which various options for modernizing the hotel, which has been operated under the Crowne Plaza label for many years, were discussed. Due to the complexity of the overall project, the contract for the extensive modernization measures was awarded to the STORM Group company S&L Energie-Projekte GmbH, which is specialized in such activities. The general overhaul of the CHP unit and the modernization of the CHP control system were carried out by STORM at the engine repair plant in Spelle.

The order was placed in August 2023. The two CHP units based on the Waukesha F3521G Lambda-1 naturally aspirated engine, each with an electrical output of 340 kW and a thermal output of 570 kW, were reinstalled in January 2024. The new absorber arrived in May. Installing the chp units and the absorber was a major challenge due to the very limited space in the hotel's technical basement. Pipework construction is currently in full swing. As many pipes outside the CHP unit's scope of delivery still need to be renovated and fire protection encapsulations installed, among other things, the recommissioning of the entire system will take another 2-3 months.

"I would never have thought that a CHP project of this size could be so complex. But the hotel's complicated and in parts outdated infrastructure requires new solutions to be found for previously unknown problems on an almost weekly basis. This makes the project complex and leads to delays, but it is also a particularly exciting challenge.", says S&L project manager Christian Frekers.

In a few weeks, the time will have come: not only will the hotel's electricity, heating and cooling generation be able to continue with improved efficiency, but the temporary emergency power supply in the hotel courtyard can also be uninstalled. The CHP unit had taken over the hotel's emergency power supply since it was commissioned in 1995.