Fluvius reinforces grids for Nextgen Demo innovation hub on old Opel site in Antwerp port
Grid company Fluvius has finished reinforcing the electricity supply at the NEXTGEN DEMO site in the port of Antwerp. This is a new allotment on the old Opel site, specifically intended for sustainable and innovative companies. Specifically, Fluvius is commissioning a new switching station there that will make the site ready for the future.
'Nextgen Demo' takes shape
NextGen Demo is part of the NextGen District: a circular hub in the heart of the Port of Antwerp. The approximately 2-hectare zone offers space and support services to start-ups and scale-ups, spin-off companies and pilot projects. The aim is to test new technologies and circular demo projects on a larger scale and in an industrial environment before commercialisation.
The new allotment in the Innovation Street provides space for 10 projects that can scale up after the test phase towards the rest of NextGen District, or another location inside or outside the port. This will again make room for new, innovative companies.
Strengthen electricity grid
Along with other utilities, the development of the new innovative site naturally includes an electricity grid that is sufficiently powerful for the future activities that will increasingly focus on electricity. To accommodate this, Fluvius built a new switching station at the site entrance along Noorderlaan.
A switching station is a gigantic fuse box, which Fluvius can monitor and control remotely via a central management system. The substation itself is fed directly from the 7th Havendok transformer station and provides the necessary supply lines from which various companies can be supplied with power. Each supply line received a heavier connection of 2,500 amps, compared to 800 amps previously. Like just about every other switching station in the port, it operates at a voltage of 15 kilovolts.
In the next few months, Fluvius will finalise the transfer of all the electricity cables to the new substation, which will then become part of the grids for tomorrow.
What is a substation?
The 850 Fluvius switching stations are part of the backbone of the electricity grid in Flanders. In these stations, electricity is safely distributed (or 'switched') to a series of underlying electricity networks, each at a medium voltage level of 10, 11, 12, 15 or 30 kilovolts (here and there in Flanders also 36 and 70 kilovolts). From there, they feed our entire electricity grid, right to your home.
Bart Wouters