Siemens supplies gas storage drives

has placed an order with 

(I&S) Group to supply five electric drive systems for the Zuidwending underground natural-gas storage facility in the

.

The final customer for the variable-speed drives is a joint venture between the companies Nederlandse Gasunie and Nuon. The value of the project amounts to around €10m and the gas storage facility is scheduled to start operating in 2010.

Nederlandse Gasunie buys, transports and sells natural gas and promotes its safe, efficient and innovative use. In the Netherlands, the company has a pipeline network with a total length of around 11,600km. Nuon is an energy supply company which serves customers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany with electricity, gas, heat and supplementary services.

The two companies are jointly building a natural-gas storage facility in underground salt caverns near Zuidwending in the Groningen province. The gas storage facility is to have a capacity of around 180 million m2 and is mainly intended to work as a buffer and compensate for peaks in demand. Located 1,000 to 1,500m below the surface, the caverns are connected to the national gas supply network in the Netherlands by means of a short pipeline. The caverns are filled with the help of gas compressors which can feed in up to 1.2 m2 of natural gas per hour.