ROTTERDAM: Green pipeline with high degree of difficulty

isoplus delivered roughly € 13 million worth of pipe to Rotterdam, the second-largest city in the Netherlands. It is the energy company Eneco who is behind the project ‘Leiding over Noord’, which will supply Rotterdam and two smaller cities with the surplus heat from a large waste incineration power plant.

The connection of 16.8 kilometres (with both supply and return lines) passes in fact among canals, locks, dikes, a golf course, motorways, a hospital area, a park and a lot more. ‘Leiding over Noord’  maintained the strict Dutch standard (NEN 3650) concerning the design and construction of pipelines.

The advanced software has been used to ensure that all the effects and loads in the pipe are kept within the norm. The entire operation provided energy to approx. 95,000 residences and businesses with a CO2 burden that quite significantly is 60% less than the previous gas-fired solution. Finally, the entire connection is assessed and approved by an independent control body, namely Lloyds Register of Rotterdam.

FACTS

• Power of the waste heat: 160 MW
• Pipe dimensions: 700/900 mm
• A total of 2 x 7.7 kilometres have been drilled
• A total of 678 bends have been used
• The pipeline has 2,300 electric fusion joints
• The route encompasses a total of 46 horizontal directional drillings