EoW January 2012

News Corporate

Combining FTTH with environmental control

fibre interconnectivity plays a key role,” explained Roland Kurmann, chairman of Drahtex. “It’s a cooperative venture which brings community stakeholders together to invest in a future-orientated energy approach for the citizens of Hünenberg.” With 9,000 inhabitants spread over an area of 18.5km 2 , Hünenberg has a high proportion of agricultural activity. Draka JetNetXS blowing technology helped deploy the underground fibre infrastructure running alongside the biogas distribution network over a total network length of 4.5km. Despite the challenge of jetting fibre over distances up to 5km, the fibre optic network has been installed rapidly and successfully and because of the efficiency of the Draka JetNetXS technique, the network can be easily expanded to meet future community energy management requirements as the output of the plant expands.

Fibre interconnected, every component in the biogen heating plant is fully automated, with remote control availability from various sites. All processes within the plant can be monitored and controlled at any time. In addition to animal manure supplied by the farmers, the biogas plant is fed with other readily available natural waste products in order to increase its efficiency. They include grass, lawn-clippings, and biogenic industrial waste such as vegetable and food scraps from industry, restaurants and inhabitants. Added to this are the leftovers of the local agricultural industry, such as spent grains, pomace and the remainders of the milling industry. Draka Holding NV – The Netherlands

Draka, part of the Prysmian Group, has announced that its Swiss partner Drahtext AG has completed the initial phase of a rural community fibre network combining fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) with environmental control for the village of Hünenberg in Zug, Switzerland. Part of a showcase renewable energy project, Draka fibre connectivity not only ensures high speed broadband services to community residents, it forms the backbone to supply and control a substantial part of the energy demands of Hünenberg. The village biogas plant, one of the largest plants in Europe, provides 15% of energy requirements. Its gas turbine, powered by biogas, will provide the community with nearly 600kW of energy (300kW of electrical and 300kW of thermal energy). self-financed renewable energy project in which “This is an entirely

Fax : +31 20 56 89 899 Email : info@draka.com Website : www.draka.com

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EuroWire – January 2012