ENGIE Deutschland and ROM/Wefers supply cooling and heating for the mega construction project FAIR in Darmstadt

Cologne/Stuttgart - The umbrella working group (ARGE) "FAIR TEC Cooling" has been awarded the contract for the execution of the heating and cooling at the FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) particle accelerator plant. ENGIE Deutschland GmbH and ARGE ROM/Wefers (Rud Otto Meyer Technik GmbH &Co. KG and Wefers Technik GmbH) have joined forces to form the umbrella ARGE. In addition to economic aspects, the project execution plan (PAP) drawn up by the partners, which describes the project structure, organization and execution in detail, was decisive for the award of the contract. Roland Maag, Head of Building Technologies at ENGIE Deutschland, says: "FAIR is currently one of the largest and most complex construction projects for international top-level research worldwide. We are very proud to contribute our expertise to the success of this extraordinary project." Jürgen Sautter, Managing Director at ROM Technik, adds: "We are looking forward to working with our customer and working together in the working group."

Large-scale construction project FAIR: The Universe in the Laboratory

The aim of FAIR is to provide new insights into the structure of matter and the development of the universe from the Big Bang to the present day. To this end, the facility generates states of matter in the laboratory that otherwise only occur in space, for example in stellar explosions and in the interiors of planets. In the future, FAIR will supply ion beams from all chemical elements as well as antiprotons – a process that is unique worldwide. To this end, 25 buildings are currently being built on the approximately 150,000 square meter FAIR site in Darmstadt, Hesse, including the SIS100 underground accelerator ring tunnel. It is supposed to bring particles to 99 percent speed of light. An integrated construction schedule was developed for the multinational, highly complex mega-construction project, in which structural, civil and engineering construction, accelerator development and construction, and the scientific experiments are closely coordinated. Construction started in summer 2017.  

Concentrated expertise: ARGE is responsible for heating and cooling

The ARGE ENGIE-ROM/Wefers is responsible for the complete cooling and heating supply in all 25 buildings. This ranges from planning, to delivery and assembly, to commissioning and maintenance. ENGIE Deutschland is responsible for the two cooling centers in the north and south of the site: 31 cooling towers and ten QUANTUM refrigeration machines from the subsidiary ENGIE Refrigeration supply the entire accelerator center with a total cooling output of 28 megawatts via a ring system. The integration of the waste heat from the supercooling of the ring poses a special challenge: A team of specialists simulated this complex circuit in advance. ROM/Wefers is responsible for supplying the ring accelerator. The 1,100 meter long accelerator ring has only three access points. The tunnel is installed 17 meters below ground level, for which the tunnel must be ventilated with external machines during the construction phase. The logistics for personnel and material transport is particularly demanding.

ARGE ENGIE-ROM/Wefers has been awarded the contract for cooling and heating at the FAIR particle accelerator plant in Darmstadt, Hesse. The photo shows the current status of the tunnel construction for the SIS100 ring accelerator in April 2021.

About ENGIE Deutschland  and the ENGIE Group
ENGIE Deutschland is one of Germany's leading specialists for building services engineering, plant and process technology, facility management, energy management, energy generation, energy supply and mobility concepts as well as industrial refrigeration technology. In addition to ENGIE Deutschland GmbH, ENGIE Deutschland AG, ENGIE Refrigeration GmbH and H.G.S. GmbH has been part of ENGIE Deutschland since February 2019. Across Germany, ENGIE Deutschland has a total of 4,500 employees at 50 branches and generated sales of around 1.4 billion euros in 2020.
The French parent company ENGIE SA is a world leader in the area of low-carbon energy and services and is committed to accelerating the transition to a CO₂-neutral world by reducing energy consumption and offering more environmentally friendly solutions. In 2020, the listed company generated sales of around EUR 55.8 billion with 170,000 employees.

About ROM technology
ROM Technik offers its customers throughout Germany the entire spectrum of building technology from a single source. The approximately 2,300 highly qualified employees have excellent training and many years of experience in the planning, implementation and operation of building technology. With comprehensive expertise, customers can be accompanied in their projects across all disciplines of technical building equipment, whether in partial orders or the entire TGA installation.
rom-technik.de

About Wefer's Technology
Wefers Technik GmbH is a medium-sized family-owned company with over 90 years of tradition. With around 150 employees, the company develops sophisticated large-scale projects in the field of building engineering, which include the heating, ventilation, sanitary, refrigeration, air conditioning and MSR sectors. Wefers Technik GmbH is a subsidiary of the internationally operating Zech Group SE. The broad and diversified group of companies is active in the areas of building, real estate and hotel.
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