News –

NORD Drives Make Energy History

Commissioned at the Chur sewage treatment plant in Switzerland, NORD drive technology moves the world’s first folding solar roof.

Bargteheide, 2020-01-06

With an area of 5,800 square meters, the folding solar roof at the Chur sewage treatment plant covers the pre-treatment, secondary (biological) treatment, and tertiary treatment basins. The 2,120 modules produce 550,000 kWh of electrical power per year – equalling about 20 % of the energy required by the plant. Using robust cableway technology, the solar panels unfold automatically as soon as the first rays of the sun penetrate the clouds in the morning. They return to their protective parking position when the sun goes down in the evening or when there is a risk of snow, storm or hail. Intelligent decentralized NORD drives are used for retracting and extending the folding roof panels. The fact that frequency inverters are directly mounted on the motors makes installation much easier. The PLC integrated in the drive makes it possible to retract the folding roof groups to the garage using an autonomous home run function at any time if communication should fail. This maximizes the operational safety of the system considerably and is a key component of the drive solution.