magazine bilfinger · magazine 01.2014 winter joy “when the snow falls, and when the sun...

NEW ENERGY | 8

NUTRITION | 24

RENEWAL | 30

THE ELEMENT OF LIFE

01.2014

BILFINGER

magazine

2BILFINGERMAGAZINE01.2014

WINTER JOY

“When the snow falls, and when the sunshines,” sings Austrian songwriter Wolfgang Am-bros, there is only one longing: “Go skiing!” InSölden, Austria, for example. Here, skiiers are at-tracted by 150 kilometers of slopes between 1,500and over 3,000 meters above sea level and a snowguarantee from October to May. Such a guaranteeis possible not only because of the glaciers, butalso because of the 330 snow machines. In a mat-ter of seconds, they turn water into fine ice crys-tals. They spit out about 10,000 cubic meters of

snow per hour – more than a million cubic metersover the course of a season. The machines are fedwith glacial water that is collected in giant stor-age ponds. With its fully automated pumping sta-tions and distribution systems, Bilfinger Industrie -technik Salzburg ensures that the water from theponds finds its way up to the snow machines. Theeffort is well worth it – in his heavy Austrian ac-cent, pop singer Ambros describes the feeling onegets when skiing as follows: “Everybody’s happy,everybody’s having a good time!”

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WE MAKE IT WORK

5


CONTENTS EDITORIAL

8EnergytransformationIn Austria, Bilfinger is

working on one of the lar-

gest hydroelectric power

plants in Europe: the

Reißeck II pumped sto -

rage plant is key to the

new energy policy.

17Blue wonderThe water we use every

day is among our most

important resources –

and the most beautiful:

a journey to World

Heritage Sites around

the globe.

22Power from the streamThe Lehen river sill in

Salzburg crosses the

Salzach. A spectacularly

beautiful structure that

tames the river and

generates clean energy.

24Jelly treatJellyfish have become

a plague of the seas.

What can we do about it?

One possibility is to eat

them! A visit with a

jellyfish cook in Berlin.

30Water inMexico CityThe megacity suffers

from water shortages

and floods.

Bilfinger is involved

in giant infrastructure

projects that will bring

some relief.

38ResourcemanagerProfessor Peter Cornel

advocates for small,

decentralized plants

and for the reuse of

water. He is heading a

pilot project in Namibia.

44Deep civilizationFrench architect Jacques

Rougerie designs fantas-

tic residential and work -

ing spaces under water.

His Sea Orbiter will revo-

lutionize ocean research.

2WE MAKE IT WORKWinter joy

6KALEIDOSCOPELittle streams,

big rivers

28COMPLEMENTARYClean stream

40EUREKA!Solutions from Bilfinger

43WHAT EXACTLY IS… cumulative fatigue?

48

NEWSFrom the company

50INSIDE STORYSusan Rooi – South Africa

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8

44

17

30

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Water is essential. We need it to drink and

wash, for agriculture and industry, for cool-

ing and heating and to generate electricity.

It is a resource, source of energy and eco-

nomic engine. And for these reasons, it is

one of our greatest assets.

All around the world, Bilfinger is support-

ing communities and industry in their ef-

forts to use water more efficiently. We help

to reduce consumption and to purify waste -

water. We manufacture and assemble pres-

sure piping for hydroelectric plants, install

turbines and develop electrical systems

with which energy generation and distribu-

tion can be controlled.

Together with committed partners from the

world of science, we are also looking into

decentralized water supply systems and

create solutions for integrated wastewater

management.

Read all about these topics in this issue of

the magazine.

Yours truly,

DEAR READER,

Roland Koch

Chief Executive Officerof Bilfinger SE

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6BILFINGERMAGAZINE01.2014 7

KALEIDOSCOPE WATER

BIG WORDS

“THE BIG FLOWING RIVERS NEED THE LITTLE STREAMS.”

ALBERT SCHWEITZER (1875 – 1965)

VISIONARY“Water is the coal of the future. The energy of tomorrow is water that has been separated by an electrical current.The elements from water that are gained in this way, hydrogen and oxygen, will secure the world’s energy supply far into the future.”

780 million people around the world arewithout access to clean drinking water.

2.5 billion people have no sanitary facilities.

Every day, 2,000 children under the age of five die as a result of polluted water.

... take 10 baths

... shower 20 times

... do 22 loads of laundry

... flush the toilet 166 times

... shave 365 days

... wash your hands 400 times

... brush your teeth 2,600 times

... make 45,454 ice cubes

ALL DRIED UP DOWN UNDERThe Henley-on-Todd Regatta is held every year in Alice Springs. The boats can’t sink eventhough they are bottomless: competitors race along the dried-up bed of the Todd River. Inthe fifty-year history of the event, it was canceled only once: in 1993 water was runningin the river following a rare rainfall in the Outback. Members of the local Rotary Clubcame up with the idea for the Regatta after wetting their throats with a few cold beers.

WWW.HENLEYONTODD.COM.AU

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water

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Abo

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.3% of the fresh-

water is groundwater

Only

0.3 %of all freshwater reserves on earth are easily accessible

to people in rivers and lakes

66.6 % of the earth’s freshwater

is frozen – as polar ice and glaciers

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A FEVERISH FINALFollowing the Champions League Final in London between Borussia Dort-mund and Bayern München on May 25, 2013, Munich’s municipal utilityshowed a kind of fever curve on its Facebook page. Highs and lows aremarked by the volume of water that rushed through the waste pipes in Mu-nich’s households during the game.Between the 30th and 43rd minute Arjen Robben’s moves kept viewers gluedto their televisions. The first opportunity for a trip down the hall came dur-ing halftime. The wastewater curve also clearly reflects frustration after thepenalty shot for Dortmund and the sense of relief after the 2-1 game-win-ning goal for Munich.

WATER RESERVES

JULES VERN E IN HIS NOVEL “THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND,” PUBLISHED IN 1874

source: Energy and Water Potsdam

WATER IS A

BASIC HUMAN RIGHTWHAT YOU CAN DO WITH

1,000 LITERS OF WATER

source: Unicef

source: Municipal Utility of Munichsource: German Federal Agency for Civic Education

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9


The construction of the Reißeck II pumped storage power plant gives rise toone of Europe’s largest hydroelectric power plants in Kärnten, Austria.

TRANSFORMINGTHE WAY WE PRODUCE ENERGY

Text MARKUS WANZECK | Photos CH RISTOPH PÜSCH N ER

The construction site – Austria’s answer to a future

when the rethink in energy policy will be reality – is a

trip down memory lane for Erich Payer, 58. Almost 40

years ago he was here on the mountain, back in the

days when the power plant Malta main stage was be-

ing built. Yes, of course, he still remembers it like it was

yesterday. He was a young fitter, crawling through the

two pressurized pipes, which since then run from the

Burgstall down to the Rottau power station in the Möll

valley, cascading in parallel, virtually two kilometers

long, like gigantic waterfalls. That was 1974 through

1976. Two years later the hydroelectric power station

came on stream. In the same year, a national referen-

dum forced the plug to be pulled on Austria’s only nu-

clear power plant shortly before it went into operation.

The hydroelectric power station has an output of 730

megawatts – roughly the same as the Zwentendorf

nuclear power plant, had it been connected to the grid.

Now the Malta main stage is being extended. Today,

power generation is not the be-all and end-all. The in-

telligent distribution and intermediate storage of the

generated energy is becoming more important all the

time. The Reißeck II pumped storage power plant has

therefore been taking shape across the Möll valley since

2010. By connecting the lakes and hydroelectric power

stations of the hitherto separate Malta and Reißeck-

Kreuzeck systems, a power plant grid with huge storage

capacity is being created – the Kölnbrein reservoir

forms part of this system; with a capacity of 200 mil-

lion cubic meters of water it is Austria’s largest storage

reservoir – along with sophisticated instrumentation

for voltage management in the European power grid.

Reißeck II increases the output of the power plant

by over 40 percent to 1,459 megawatts at relatively little

cost and effort: existing lakes simply had to be opened

up for the pumped storage operation. Payback of the

€385 million invested will take an estimated 30 years.

In early 2012, Erich Payer returned to the Möll valley

under contract to Bilfinger VAM. Since then he has been

spending most of his days in the mountain, as the new

pumped storage power plant is being built entirely un-

derground. Galleries stretching nine kilometers were

driven into the mountain. “You go in in the morning, in

brilliant sunshine,” he says. “And when you come out

again, there’s 20 centimeters of fresh snow.” But it also

has its good points: “In summer it’s not that hot. In win-

ter not that cold.”

Take today for instance. Outside, up the mountain,

the first snow has fallen. Here, at 1,585 meters, in the 40-

meter-high cavern in which power will be generated

from 2014, Erich Payer can breathe in and out deeply

Bilfinger Project Manager Stephan Ebner and TechnicalProject Manager Roland Eder at the Reißeck II pipe bifurcation. The 215 megawatt turbines are being installed just a few meters behind them.

Bilfinger employees completing the final welding seams on the so-called T-section which connects the Malta and Reißeck-Kreuzeckpower plant groups.

The amount of power fed in from renewable energysources, especially from wind and solar power plants,cannot be predicted exactly. In order to stabilize the volt-age in the power grid, intermediate storage is thereforeset to become increasingly important, along with cross-border cooperation between power plant and grid opera-tors. The ideal scenario is a smart grid in which all ener-gy producers, storage facilities and consumers are in con-stant contact with each other and respond to each other.

Pumped storage power plants such as Reißeck II pumpwater from the valley into the higher-lying storage reser-voirs in times when there is surplus energy (and low en-ergy costs). At night, for example. When power demandsurges (along with energy costs), the reservoirs are emp-tied again, the water flows through the turbines back into the valley. In this way around 75 percent of the energy, which is not required during surplus phases, isstored intermediately and can be called upon when re-quired.

Two existing hydroelectric power station groups, Mal-ta and Reißeck-Kreuzeck, will be connected with eachother thanks to the construction of Reißeck II. The newpumped storage power plant increases, on the one hand,the maximum output of the combined power plant group:plus 40 percent is the figure for power generation duringturbine operation, while the output is even doubled dur-ing pump operation. On the other hand, the power plantopens up storage reservoirs, which had been built as annual storage facilities in the 1950s and 1960s, forpumped storage operation. The content of these reservoirswill no longer be emptied and filled just annually, butwithin the space of a week.

Reißeck II can generate large quantities of electricitywith a starting time of just one to two minutes – andthereby react immediately to temporary energy bottle-necks. Conversely when, for instance, offshore wind pow-er generators feed excessive amounts of power into thegrid during a storm on the North Sea coast, the pumpedstorage power plant can be deployed in a matter of min-utes to reduce the voltage by switching to pump opera-tion and consuming large amounts of energy. Even a “hy-draulic short-circuit” is possible. As part of this processone of the two turbines in the power plant generates elec-tricity with water flowing down the valley, while the oth-er turbine pumps water up the mountain in pump mode.The water comes full circle. “That is pure energy destruc-tion,” says Roland Eder, Technical Project Manager at Bilfinger VAM. This may be necessary in response to anextended surplus of power in the grid when the storagereservoirs are full.

without his breath condensing into clouds. He tightens

up nuts: completion work on the intake manifold flaps.

Erich is responsible for assembling these two flaps as

well as for assembling the two rotary valves. These four

elements act like a faucet. They can interrupt the flow

of water where necessary – no easy task. After all, up

to 80,000 liters of water per second gush through two

turbines when generating electricity, each turbine driv-

ing a dynamo that weighs 265 tons. By contrast, pump

mode involves the turbines rotating in the opposite di-

rection, pumping up to 70,000 liters every second into

the high-lying storage reservoirs.

Erich Payer is already looking forward to installing

the rotary valves. Each rotary valve weighs 120 tons.

They have to be transported from the Zgorcelec produc-

tion site in Poland to the Möll valley and from there ne-

gotiate the 16 hairpin bends up the mountain. That’s

where the really difficult part begins. It comes down to

pinpoint accuracy when winching these leviathans in-

to the cavern during the installation. “Relationships can

be shattered even when putting up IKEA shelves,” says

Payer. A mischievous smile breaks out upon his lips un-

der his moustache. “But these things here are one-offs,

there’s no foolproof assembly instructions to go with

them.”

MAKING CONNECTIONSIn addition to the rotary valves and the intake manifold

flaps, Bilfinger VAM is also contributing other crucial

components in the new plant, including the 1,400-me-

ter-long pressure shaft above the power plant and the

T-section below the power plant, which merges the

pipes from Reißeck II with the existing plant from the

1970s. This junction connects the hitherto hydraulical-

ly separated power plant groups Malta and Reißeck-

Kreuzeck. The T-section is therefore the central link in

the power plant group that is under construction.

“The welding on the T-section will be finished with

the night shift,” explains August Katteneder, the Deputy

Construction Site Manager. In the afternoon at six,

OVERVIEW

How Reißeck IIworks

500 m

1 000 m

1 500 m

2 000 m

2 500 m

Kolbnitz power plantRottau power plant and equalizing reservoir

Möll

Galgenbichl power plant

Malta power plant group

Mal

ta u

pper

sta

ge

Mal

ta

mai

n st

age

1

2 3 4

1

2 3 4

1 Großer Mühldorfer Lake 2 Gößkar reservoir 3 Galgenbichl reservoir 4 Kölnbrein reservoir

500 m

1 000 m

1 500 m

2 000 m

2 500 m

Pressure shaft

T-sectionRotary valves and intake manifold flaps

Reißeck II pumpedstorage power plant

Power plant group Reißeck-Kreuzeck

MULTIFUNCTIONAL

Energy grid management with water

In times of surplus energy, Reißeck II pumpswater into the higher-lying reservoirs.ENERGY IS STORED.

When energy is needed, water from thereservoirs is released through the Reißeck IIturbines into the valley.ENERGY IS GENERATED. ALTERNATIVE 1

Water from the higher-lying reservoirs isreleased through the Reißeck II turbinesinto lower-lying reservoirs.ENERGY IS GENERATED. ALTERNATIVE 2

Reißeck II networked


Largest reservoir, highest dam: the Kölnbrein reservoir is a symbolof Austrian ingenuity. Reißeck II connects it with the lakes of theReißeck-Kreuzeck power plant group.


punctually at the shift changeover, there is a barbecue

on the terrace of the Bilfinger office container. Meat, sal-

ad, drinks by the crate, Katteneder has thought of every-

thing. “You can often see deer from the terrace,” the am-

ateur hunter says. The raised hides which the local

huntsmen have built into the treetops on the sides of the

valley almost impress him more than the scale of the

huge construction site in the mountain: “You wouldn’t

get me up there.”

90 DEGREE GRADIENTOn the next morning Stephan Ebner, Reißeck overall

Project Manager at Bilfinger, and Technical Project

Manager Roland Eder discuss progress to date with Site

Manager Friedrich Brandstätter. Intake manifold flaps:

tick. T-section: tick. Pressure shaft? Assembly of the

pressure shaft was a masterpiece, says Brandstätter, “a

veritable world record”: over 800 meters of inclined

shaft in just five months.

Just below the Schoberboden summit station where

Europe’s highest narrow gauge railway climbs to 2,247

meters lies the top end of the inclined shaft. It is damp

in the access tunnel. Solid white bony stalactites hang

down from the ceiling. Here the huge sections of pres-

sure pipe, fourteen meters long, 3.6 meters in diameter,

were driven by a low-loader into the mountain and

then fed into the shaft with the aid of a 60-ton cable

winch and a transport trolley built in-house. Hydraulics

enabled the trolley to be maneuvered precisely so the

pipes could be pushed together with millimeter accu-

racy. The heaviest assembly unit weighed 36 tons. The

shaft has a gradient of 90 percent. Working platforms

were inserted into the pipe, which is being built up

from the bottom and connected via access steps and

ERICH PAYERAssembly Foreman

AUGUST KATTENEDERDeputy Construction Site Manager

Erich Payer and August Katteneder have been working together for decades. In the power plant cavern they discuss the assembly of the rotary valves. Unique specimens weighing 120 tons each.

Work on the pressure shaft and the T-section is now behind the Bilfinger VAM team. The mighty 3.60-meter tubes will be filled with water in a few months.


carried along in the shaft. A narrow, steep, up to 70-me-

ter-high staircase traveling upward step by step: “There

you need people who don’t get fazed by confined spaces

or heights.”

PERFECT WELD SEAMSThe TIG hot wire process was used for the weld seams

on the pressure shaft, a semiautomated technology. The

pipe junctions are heated to 130° Celsius prior to the

welding. A robot controlled by a supervisor then welds

them together with extreme precision using a welding

rod that has also been preheated. The welding process

is thus faster and uses less energy. And the results are

also extraordinary: the toughness values of the weld

seams in the pressure shaft were so outstanding that

the client was convinced the measurements must be

flawed when the data was handed over, and conse-

quently had everything rechecked. In the end though,

the client was satisfied, very satisfied in fact: “We did

not find a single weld seam that needed reworking,”

says Dr. Markus Larcher, Project Manager of the Ver-

bund Hydro Power AG. “This isn’t something you come

across every day.”

So, pressure shaft: tick. All that’s missing are the two

rotary valves. Erich Payer will supervise their installa-

tion together with six colleagues. In spring 2014 the

commissioning work will begin; the inclined shaft will

be slowly flooded. The dress rehearsal for Reißeck II will

coincide almost exactly with Payer’s 40th anniversary

with the company.

What then when the pumped storage power plant is

connected to the grid? When everything has come full

circle for Erich Payer? Payer shrugs his shoulders: What

would you expect me to do? “I’m not sentimental,” he

finally says. He’ll take a few days off. “Afterwards, we’ll

move on together, Katteneder and me.”

VAM.BILFINGER.COM

Dr. Larcher, how much electricity can the new power plant grouparound Reißeck II produce?1,459 megawatts. That’s equivalent to around the output of one-and-a-half state-of-the-art nuclear reactors. With Reißeck II we will in futurebe able to supply around 200,000 more homes with peak current, whichmeans that we control around 10 percent of demand for peak energy inAustria.What does peak energy mean?It means we feed electricity into the grid when consumption is particu-larly high. Typically in the morning when everyone gets up, then againaround midday and finally when everyone finishes work. When powerconsumption is low, on the other hand, we take power from the gridand use it to pump water back into the storage reservoirs.You fill your “green batteries.”Some people describe it like that. “Green” is associated with environ-mentally friendly energy. Power produced from coal and nuclear plants, however, accounts for a substantial part of the European and Austrianelectricity mix. It’s what we call gray power, which we use to fill ourstorage reservoirs with water. Accordingly, our hydroelectric power stations can also only feed gray power back into the grid.But you do actually generate green energy from the natural water inflow.Yes, but the proportion of water at Reißeck II that flows from outsideinto the storage system is minuscule. Compared with the amount ofwater which we will be actively pumping up, it is perhaps just two per-cent. The bottom line is that our power plant group consumes morepower than it generates. Pumping up the water wastes between 15 and25 percent of the energy.So Reißeck II does not contribute to environmentally friendly energy generation?It certainly does. After all, our power plant group is connected to theEuropean power grid. Here, increasing amounts of power are being fedin from renewable energy sources, primarily wind and solar power.There are never-ending cycles of energy surpluses or shortfalls. That’swhere our storage reservoirs come into play. Without these kinds of in-termediate storage facilities, the shift in energy policy would not bepossible. They help guarantee the stability of the electricity grid de-spite the feed-in fluctuations.How quickly can you feed in electricity if necessary?It takes just a minute to flip the power switch at Reißeck II. A gas-firedpower plant is no match. And coal-fired power plants are in an entirelydifferent league – where starting up and shutting down take days.Bilfinger provides key components for Reißeck II. How did thatcome about?Bilfinger can look back on many years’ experience of power plant con-struction. We worked together well on many occasions, such as withthe Limberg II pumped storage power plant completed in Kaprun in2011. With these kinds of projects Bilfinger has consistently demon-strated its extensive expertise in coordinating with other contractors.At Reißeck II it was equally important that deadline compliance wenthand in hand with extremely high flexibility. That turned out to be oneof Bilfinger’s fortes. Today, only three years after the start of construc-tion and a year before commissioning the power plant, we are on timeand on budget.VERBUND.COM

INTERVIEW

Peak energy

Reißeck II was commissioned by Verbund Hydro Power AG. An interview with Dr. MarkusLarcher, the energy utility’s project manager.

View of the mountain landscape above the Möll Valley with the 2,500-meterSalzkofel in the background. The panorama will remain untouched: the newReißeck II power plant is burrowed deep in the mountain.

17


The turbines of a hydroelectric power plant must run

at a constant speed in order for them to feed electrici-

ty into the power grid. When that happens, the gener-

ators deliver the necessary alternating current with

exactly 50 hertz. The speed of the turbines is con-

trolled fully automatically by the position of the

blades, for example, or by changing the turbine in-

take. Bilfinger Mauell has been providing this tech-

nology for many decades, including for EnBW at the

Forbach pumped storage power plant in southern

Germany. Bilfinger Mauell controls over two dozen

hydroelectric power plants in Europe alone. The com-

pany is not just involved with the turbines, but also

ensures that the power plants work reliably when

networked with other power producers and that the

grid is not overloaded. The company’s control technol-

ogy manages the switchover between power produc-

tion where demand is high in the grid, and pumping

the water back into the storage reservoirs. In addi-

tion, this technology plays an important role in main-

taining the levels of rivers and storage reservoirs at

the prescribed height. Ultimately, hydroelectric power

plants and mills located downstream have to receive

sufficient water, fish stocks cannot be endangered

and shipping needs to be taken into account. The con-

trol data comes from a host of sensors located in the

power stations, but is often spread out over many

kilometers along waterways and in storage reservoirs

and connected via secure lines and UMTS connections

to the control room. “Clients value our in-depth

knowledge,” says Jörg Meißner, Sales Engineer for

southern Germany.

With its workforce of just under 500 employees,

Bilfinger Mauell not only supplies control technology

for hydroelectric power, but for the entire energy sec-

tor, right through to power transmission. Network

technology for transformation networks in particular

is becoming a key competence in the wake of the

shift in energy policy. Bilfinger Mauell already has a

significant market share in Germany in this

sector. Text MATH IAS RITTG EROTT

BILFINGER MAUELL

Control technologyfor hydroelectricpower

MAUELL.BILFINGER.COM

The Forbach pumped storage power plant has been providing electricity

in the Black Forest region for nearly a century. In the machine room,

control technology from Bilfinger Mauell ensures reliable operation.

Texts PAUL LAM PE / MATH IAS RITTG EROTT

The Wadden Sea Gray sand stretches as far as the eye can see. With its surface ribbed by smallwaves, the seabed resembles a giant washing board. The disappearing waterline can be seen in thedistance, an undulating white line. That’s where the sea begins.

The rising winds push the gulls through the sky. The birds cry, the water gurgles and splashes.Crabs rush from puddle to puddle. Small round pyramids that look like rolled-up spaghetti piles markthe places where the lugworms have made their homes.

The moon’s gravity causes the waters to rise and fall along the 450-kilometer strip of coastlinebetween the Dutch island of Texel and the Danish city of Esbjerg. The tidal flats run dry twice a day.

This unique ecosystem is home to millions of birds. The flat waters are at once a breedingground and a source of food for fish. The salt marsh provides shelter to 2,300 animal and plant species. Migratory birds rest here to build up fat reserves before beginning their long journey south: since 2009, these North Sea tidal flats have been a World Heritage Site, recognized as the “largestunbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world.”

BETWEEN THE TIDES

WATERWORLDThe water we use every day is among our most important resources –and the most beautiful: a journey to World Heritage Sites around the globe.

19


Ilulissat Icefjord They drift lazily southward through the mirror-like waters of Disco Bay. As tall ashouses, their shining blue flanks and sharp edges rise out of the sea. The icebergs hide nine-tenths oftheir mass underneath the water. Researchers believe that one of them sank the Titanic more than onehundred years ago. Their nursery is located at the end of the Ilulissat Icefjord in Western Greenland.

With a speed of 19 meters a day, the Sermeq Kujalleq Glacier pushes its frozen treasure into thefjord. The fjord, which is 1,000 meters deep and 60 kilometers long, transports about 35 cubic kilo -meters of this treasure into the open sea each year, ten percent of the total ice mass pushed out byGreenland annually. The only other ice movements on this scale can be found in the Antarctic.

Here, 250 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, is the ideal location to explore how glaciers workand how our climate is changing. The dramatic deterioration of the Sermeq Kujalleq Glacier of ten kilo-meters between 2001 and 2007 is a clear indication of the impact that global climate change is having.The temperature rises up to 25 degrees in the summer; that’s when the cruise ships anchor in DiscoBay. Their passengers stare in wonder as the glacier gives birth to new icebergs.

WHEN GLACIERS GIVE BIRTH

Ha Long Bay “Descending Dragon Bay” is the name the Vietnamese have given to this breathtakingarea. The group of 1,600 islands is said to have been formed by a monster with its tail. Some of thetowers and crests rise like giant goblets out of the sea. Cliff walls with vertical drops of 100 meterscascade into the water. Caves pervade the islands. Inside they expand to reveal walls covered withstalactites.

Geographers refer to this landscape as a “drowned cone karst.” Over a period of millions of years, the water ate its way through the limestone, creating a mountainous landscape that was thenflooded by the sea: mountain peaks were transformed into islands.

Land and sea are intricately interwoven in Halong. Luxuriant tropical rain forest clings to the islands, which are for the most part uninhabited. There are 74 animal and plant species that live onlyhere and nowhere else on the planet. This biological diversity continues below the surface of the water, where more than 1,000 species of fish and corral are to be found.

Inhabitants of the bay live from fishing; they raise shrimps and oysters. Daily life, for the mostpart, is played out on the water. Several villages float like rafts on the sea. Junks, barges and motor-boats are the most important methods of transportation in this amazing water world.

THE ISLANDS OF THE DRAGON

21


Victoria Falls In 1855, the legendary researcher David Livingstone raved that he had never seenanything more beautiful in Africa and dedicated the natural spectacle to her Majesty, Queen Victoria.The Zambezi tumbles more than 100 meters across a breadth of 1,708 meters. 500 million liters ofwater roars over the basalt ledge every minute. The veil of spray is often so thick that the falls them-selves remain hidden behind it.

Upriver from the waterfall, the Zambezi, which here marks the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe and is more than two kilometers wide, meanders lazily through the savannah. Suddenlyand unexpectedly, it throws itself with wild abandon into the gorge. When the waters are low duringthe dry season, taking a swim in the Devil’s Pool is a special thrill for tourists. The natural basin liesright at the edge of the falls.

Water from the falls nourishes a lush rain forest that does not live from precipitation, but fromthe river’s spray: the torrent thus forms a green island in the vast expanse of the Savannah. The Kolo-lo Tribe, which settled near the falls, called them “Thundering Smoke”: the spray climbs up to 300 me-ters into the sky and can be seen from a distance of 30 kilometers.

THUNDERING SMOKE

Lake Baikal Jack Frost transforms Lake Baikal in Siberia into what appears to be an endless waste -land of snow and ice. It is frozen from November to May when the average temperature dips to minus20 degrees Celsius. The plate of ice is so thick that it becomes a transport route for cars, buses andtrucks. Several towns and a large number of islands are only accessible over this ice road.

At its widest point, the 636-kilometer-long lake measures a mere 82 kilometers, but its depth iswhat makes it unique: the lake bottom is 1,642 meters below the surface at its deepest point. Thatmakes it the world’s deepest lake. The Amazon, the Nile, Ganges, Mississippi, Lena and several othermajor rivers would need to flow into this giant reservoir for a year in order to fill it. One-fifth of theworld’s unfrozen freshwater is stored here, more than in North America’s five Great Lakes.

Despite its unusual purity, the freshwater seals that can only be found in Lake Baikal have thewater pretty much to themselves: human swimmers rarely dare to take a dip in the cold waters. Evenin the mild summer months, water temperatures only reach above ten degrees Celsius in a few shallowbays due to the extreme depths elsewhere. In winter, the seals can only survive by staying close to holes in the ice, which they keep open with their claws and teeth – a lot of work when the ice is near-ly one meter thick.

STILL WATERS RUN DEEP

23


When the city of Salzburg makes itself fit for the future, it does it in style: the Lehen riverbed sill is a spectacularsculpture. It tames the river and generateselectricity from the flow.

Opulent buildings, Mozart weeks and the city’s festival – Salzburg liveswell from its past. Over the last three years, another landmark has sprungup in the middle of this World Cultural Heritage City with its millions oftourists annually: 10-meter waves now tower in the Salzach River, whichhad previously flowed quietly through the city. Immovable. Poured in con-crete. The work of art from architects Erich Wagner and Max Rieder cost€85 million.

It is a work of art that connects: a pedestrian and bicycle bridge leadsacross the concrete waves between the Lehen and Itzling districts of thecity. And the upstream and downstream sections of the river itself, sep-arated since the 1960s by a weir, have been connected once again thanksto a fish ladder and a bypass channel.

The special thing about it, however, is that the work of art is a power

plant that provides 23,000 homes in Salzburg with ecological energy. Bil-finger VAM was responsible for the prestigious project’s hydraulic steelstructure. Among other things, the company designed, manufactured andassembled the four weir fields each of which is 16 meters wide with awater level of nearly eight meters. They dam the Salzach when water lev-els are normal – and allow it to partially or fully flow when waters arehigh. Further components included the intake and outlet bulkheads withwhich the turbines can be kept dry during maintenance. The screens thatkeep debris out also come from Bilfinger as do the cleaning machines thatautomatically remove debris from the screens. In addition, Bilfinger VAMinstalled the two turbines which together generate about 14 megawattsof ecological energy.

“The riverbed sill is a signpost pointing toward an energy-aware cityin which energy is generated directly,” says August Hirschbichler, ChiefExecutive Officer of power plant operator Salzburg AG. Further advantagesof the structure: it prevents the recessing of the Salzach, the bed of which,without regulation, threatens to erode several meters deep. And, throughshore protection walls and a drainage system, it improves residents’ pro-tection against floodwaters: a power plant as a complete work of art. |

A POWERFULWORK OF ART

Text MARKUS WANZECK

Photo CH RISTOPH PÜSCH N ER

25


GOOEYBUTGOOD

Who says you can’t eat jellyfish?Jellyfish are considered a delicacy in Asia and business is booming.

A soup bowl with odd strips of some

gelatinous substance. They have a whitish-

brown shimmer and slip easily between

the fingers. Guan Guanfeng, chef at the

Long March Canteen in Berlin Kreuzberg,

enthusiastically presents a dish on the

wood table, and it’s anything but appetiz-

ing. Jellyfish. Mr. Guan grins. “Back home

in China, I used to eat them with my bare

hands, just like German children eat slices

of sandwich meat.” The 42-year-old chef

now prepares jellyfish salads for modern

city dwellers in the West: “I like to chal-

lenge my guests a little.”

Jellies have been on the menu for thou-

sands of years in Asia – evidence dates

back to the third century in the writings

of Chinese philosopher Zhang Hua. They

can be served as salad or as a side with

soup and meat dishes, even offered along-

side a shot of spirits or stuffed in spring

rolls. How about having your jellyfish

sautéed briefly with celery? Or perhaps

fried with noodles? They are especially

prized as delicacies in China and Japan.

Around one dozen types of jellies are con-

sidered edible. Leading the pack is rhopile-

ma esculentum, a jellyfish that can be up

to 50 centimeters wide and weigh as

much as 50 kilograms. Traditional Chinese

medicine attributes miraculous qualities

to the fish – it is thought to reduce blood

pressure, strengthen the joints and rejuve-

nate the skin. Nemopilema nomurai is

another mealtime favorite. At up to two

meters wide and weighing up to 200 kilo-

grams, it really is a true sea monster.

The jellyfish gourmet’s appetite is

virtually insatiable – in peak years up to

400,000 tons of jellyfish are pulled from

the waters of China, Thailand, Indonesia,

Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines

using nets, fish traps and hooks as long

as an adult’s forearm. But now even Aus-

tralian, Argentinian and American fisher-

men are on the hunt for jellies to export to

Asia. The international jellyfish trade is a

multi-million dollar business.

Currently, jellyfish rarely find their way

to plates in the West; even Chinese restau-

rants seldom put them on the menu. Guan

Guanfeng considers this more of a cultural

issue than a question of taste. He pushes

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Text CH RISTIAN SYWOTTEK | Photos RAI N ER KWIOTEK


the spaghetti-thin strips closer: “Give it a

try.” The consistency is reminiscent of

tripe. They are a bit crunchy and taste

slightly salty and fresh. There is not much

more to them than that – but it is precise-

ly this that makes them the ideal treat for

Guan Guanfeng. “They just have that per-

fect crunch!”

The fact that the jellyfish are crunchy

at all is the result of a long process that

begins back on the fishing boats. Mere

hours after capture, fishermen remove

the tentacles with their poisonous cnidae,

along with mouth and entrails, leaving be-

hind nothing but the jelly’s umbrella. Back

on land, experienced “jellyfish masters”

cure the umbrellas for weeks in various

salt mixtures until the centimeter-thick

watery masses have been reduced to mil-

limeter-thin, highly salty skins.

Now in the form of table-sized sheets,

they land in the hands of cooks, like Guan

Guanfeng, who then prepare thinly sliced

strips which are soaked in water for about

six hours to reduce the salt content and al-

low them to swell. They serve as an excel-

lent medium for the subtle taste that sur-

rounds them, which should not overpower

their own modest flavor.

Guan Guanfeng starts by carefully mix-

ing a handful of jellyfish strips with a

handful of sour strips of apple. “And since

these two ingredients really have nothing

in common, they need something to pull

them together.” To that end, he stirs to-

gether a sauce of black rice vinegar, chili

oil and sugar, then, after coating the jelly-

fish-apple mixture with the sauce, he adds

a good shot of sesame oil, two tablespoons

of coriander and finally stirs in some black

pepper. The composition tastes quite fresh

and sophisticated with intermingling sa-

vory, sweet, sour and spicy notes.

IDEAL FOR SLIM WAISTLINESA small dish with a big impact. Just the

way it should be. “Jellyfish are for the

mouth, not the stomach,” says Guan Guan -

feng, “they don’t fill you up.” But they are

certainly healthy. What they lack in fat

and cholesterol they make up for with a

good dose of protein and important trace

elements like selenium and minerals such

as potassium and calcium. At less than 20

kilocalories per 100 grams, they are ideal

for slim waistlines.

And that is not the only reason they

may yet start turning up on plates in ever-

greater frequency. As farmland grows

scarce and the global livestock industry

continues to consume – often irresponsi-

bly – natural resources, jellyfish are avail-

able on a massive scale. Coastal regions

worldwide have been outright plagued by

jellyfish with dramatic consequences.

Japanese fishermen, for example, are fre-

quently troubled by swarms of giant No-

mura jellyfish numbering in the millions,

which either rip the fishermen’s nets or

kill the entire catch in the nets with their

venomous tentacles. Injuries to swimmers

are on the rise in the Mediterranean, and

jellyfish have clogged the cooling water

systems at power plants and seawater

desalination plants across the globe.

The jellyfish population boom is attrib-

uted to climate change and an increased

amount of nutrients from river estuaries,

but the primary cause lies in the overfish-

ing of the world’s oceans. Natural preda-

tors such as tuna, swordfish and tortoises

are on the decline along with jellyfish

competitors who also eat fish eggs, larvae

and small fish. As a result, the jellyfish

population is expanding rapidly and, in

the process, eating up the next genera-

tions of other species of fish. This presents

the threat of jellyfish-dominated ecosys-

tems where fish populations die out in

ever-greater frequency – as is the case

off the coast of Namibia where jellyfish

have decimated the once plentiful sardine

population.

ICE CREAM AND RISOTTOIn light of the situation, jellyfish are in-

creasingly catching the attention of politi-

cians. The Japanese Ministry of Fisheries,

for example, has published a collection of

recipes while the Food and Agriculture Or-

ganization of the United Nations has en-

couraged the consumption of jellyfish to

lessen their impact. The situation also has

scientists in Europe worried. On behalf of

the Spanish government, the Balearic Cen-

ter for Applied Biology in Palma de Mallor-

ca collaborated with chefs to come up

with jellyfish-flavored biscuits, jellyfish

ice cream and jellyfish risotto – putting

two particular pests to good use: the bar-

rel jellyfish rhizostoma pulmo and the

mauve stinger pelagia noctiluca. At the In-

stitute of Marine Sciences in Barcelona,

Spain, researchers are developing methods

to detoxify the approximately 30-centime-

ter-wide Mediterranean “fried egg” jelly.

“We’re going to have more and more prob-

lems with jellyfish in the future,” agrees

marine biologist Jamileh Javidpour at

GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean

Research in Kiel, Germany, “but they cer-

tainly could have a lot to offer as a delica-

cy, diet food or supplement.” |

Chef

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COMPLEMENTARY29

Anna Horenkohl Over the last four years, Anna Horenkohl hasmade sure that the ecosystem on DupenauCreek in the northern part of Hamburgremains intact. There, Bilfinger Constructionbuilt large sections of the approximately six-kilometer-long tunnel system for the new XFELx-ray flash facility from which scientistsexpect to achieve a deeper understanding ofparticle physics in the future. Bilfinger treatedthe construction and groundwater before itreached the Dupenau. From June 2009 untilJune 2013, 5,000 cubic meters of water flowedthrough the purification system at the con-struction site each week. Suspended solidswere separated, pollutants and heavy metalswere removed from the water with the help ofactive carbon filters and ion exchangers. Itwas not only constant chemical analyseswhich showed the Quality Manager that thewater in the Dupenau remained clean. Thegrey herons she saw each morning as sherode her bike to the construction site throughthe Dupenau floodplains were also evidenceof an intact ecosystem.

Ulf BeyerBilfinger Ahr ensures immaculate hygienic conditions at 230 clinics and healthcare facilities inGermany. One important requirement: sterile mops and washcloths. “In the past, we had to boil thetextiles used for cleaning in order to disinfect them,” explains Ulf Beyer, Product Manager atBilfinger Ahr. “Today we use a low-temperature detergent that kills all germs already at 60 degreesCelsius.” Bilfinger Ahr helped develop the computer-controlled washing program. It shortens washtimes from 90 to 67 minutes. This means that more than two kilowatt hours are saved for eachmachine load – a significant amount with over 900 washloads every day. “As a result of the lowertemperatures, we have reduced CO2 emissions by 360 tons each year.”


Mexico City is blighted by water shortages and floods. The megacity’s future hinges on investment in infrastructure –and on a new approach to the issue of water.

WHEN WATER RAGES

Text MATH IAS BECKER | Photos M IGUEL FERRAZ

In residential areas like this one on the southern fringe ofMexico City, there are no water pipes. Residents rely ontank trucks. But these vehicles are also a common sight inmany more central districts.

33


There are days when Iztapalapa is bone-

dry one moment and almost drowning in

water the next. In the morning a rusty-

brown liquid drips out of the faucets in the

neighborhood, and the local residents are on

the lookout for the white tankers that slowly

wind their way through the narrow streets,

filling the cisterns from thick hoses. It only

takes a cloudburst to turn the streets into

rivers in no time, leaving the very same peo-

ple stranded in their living rooms with mud

up to their knees. Then Luis Monreal’s cell

phone sounds its storm warning. The wiry

51-year old man works full-time for the city’s

civil protection agency. He documents the

damage and organizes aid. He says: “I can

only pick up the pieces and wait for the next

catastrophe.”

HIGHEST CONSUMPTION Iztapalapa in the south-west of Mexico City

has become synonymous with the mega -

city’s water problems. Around 1.8 million

people live in the district with no reliable

water supply. The water trickling out of the

pipes causes skin rashes for many of the lo-

cals. Sometimes the city switches off the

system for several days in a bid to save wa-

ter. Those who have filled up their tanks can

count themselves lucky. To make their sup-

plies last longer, people then collect the wa-

ter from the shower, use it for cleaning and

water their plants with it. They purchase

drinking water that is used for cooking or to

bathe infants in bottles and canisters from

the supermarket, consuming 500 liters of

bottled drinking water per person per year –

the highest consumption anywhere in the

world.

The struggle for water is particularly strik-

ing in Iztapalapa – a problem that has dogg ed

the entire city and surroundings for many

years, which with its 22 million inhabitants

is the world’s third-largest conurbation.

THE CITY IS SINKINGProblem number one is daily water con-

sumption which is more than twice as high

as in Germany. 62,000 liters gush through

the city’s pipes every second. Three-quarters

of which is groundwater whose level is con-

stantly sinking. Some of the 3,000 wells in

the metropolitan area are 400 meters deep.

Fossil groundwater will soon be extracted

from 2,000 meters.

Overexploitation has already led to prob-

lem number two. The city is built on swampy

subsoil, which is sinking as the groundwater

is being removed – a phenomenon that is all

too apparent: bumps are appearing in roads,

rail tracks are buckling, many houses are

scarred by deep cracks. The historic center is

nine meters lower than 100 years ago. The

450-year-old cathedral is only still standing

because it was propped up extensively. At

certain points the ground has given way up

to 40 centimeters – per year.

Added to the visible signs of damage are

the problems hidden away from sight, and

hence problem number three: the water no

longer drains off by itself. Mexico City sits in

a high valley, which has been drained for

centuries by a growing sewer system. Yet as

the height has fallen, so the flow rate of the

sewers has been reduced. In some places the

flow direction has even reversed: the masses

of water no longer run out of the city, but

are funneled back into the center. Giant

pumping stations force the wastewater long

distances through the sewers until it flows

into the lower-lying surroundings under its

own momentum. Yet the technology cannot

cope with torrential downpours. Parts of the

city end up flooding.

AZTEC DAMNeither water shortages nor floods are new

phenomena in Mexico’s valley. Where today

the infinite sea of buildings stretches out in

the capital, there used to be an extended

lake district. The Aztecs once built their capi-

tal Tenochtitlan on several islands. Even this

premodern Venice had to be supplied with

fresh water via an aqueduct; flooding was

also a regular blight on the region. Finally

Aztec ruler Moctezuma had a long protective

barrier built to hold back the water. But it

was another force that would break it short-

ly afterwards: when the Spaniards con-

quered Tenochtitlan, they wasted no time

eliminating any remnants of the old Empire.

They tore down dams and drained the lake.

Water shortages and flooding are not new

phenomena in the Valleyof Mexico. But both have

grown along with the city.

“We want to getpeople to appreciatethe natural cycles.”LUIS MON REAL

Pipes break as the ground sinks. The city can hardly keep up with repairs.

35


In its place they created a city based along

European lines. They built its cathedral in

the exact same spot where the Aztecs had

worshipped their gods.

ONE-THIRD TRICKLES AWAYThe efforts that went into water supply and

disposal, however, also formed part of the

Spanish conquistadors’ inheritance. Prob-

lems that have grown with the city and ne-

cessitate the never-ending search for new

technical solutions. Two hours by car to the

west, in the green rolling hills, lies the “Los

Berros” waterworks. In its extensive pool

system 19 cubic meters of water can be

treated a second. The water comes from an

extensive network of storage reservoirs, the

“Sistema Cutzamala.” It is pumped at great

expense over a difference in altitude of up to

1,100 meters up to this point before it – fil-

tered and disinfected – rushes in large pipes

another 130 kilometers toward the capital.

Together with the smaller “Sistema Lerma,”

the “Sistema Cutzamala” provides more than

30 percent of Mexico City’s water. Water that

is scarce at times in the surrounding area.

One-third of this precious water is lost

though. Dripping and trickling faucets in

homes account for part of the loss, yet the

major share leaks from poor pipes into the

ground before it ever gets to a bathroom or a

kitchen. The city’s sinking subsoil continual-

ly causes the pipes to crack and leaves the

National Water Commission “Conagua”

struggling to keep up with repairs. Construc-

tion crews are digging up the sidewalks and

roads the length and breadth of the city in

order to plug the leaks. Enormous invest-

ments would be needed to stop the hemor-

rhaging of water.

INCENTIVE TO SAVE“It is even more important to tackle the

problem from another side, too – consump-

tion,” says Fernando González, director of

the think tank at the Autonomous Universi-

ty of Mexico (UNAM), who is looking for so-

lutions to the complex problem. Thanks to

savings campaigns and a ban on washing

cars in the street, private consumption may

well have been reduced by ten percent over

the past few years, but that is still not

enough. González and many other experts

are therefore promoting the idea of increas-

ing the price of water. “That’s the only way

you have serious incentives to save.” To date

the price has been subsidized, with huge

quantities of water ending up on the gar-

dens and in the pools of the affluent uptown

neighborhoods.

Of course, this regulating mechanism has

its limits. People still need to be able to afford

their water. “To solve the problem, we also

have to think outside the box,” says Professor

Peter Cornel. The Head of the IWAR Institute

at the Technical University of Darmstadt sup-

ports the idea of reusing water: “What comes

out of the shower or washing machine can,

when it is pretreated, still be used to flush the

toilet.” Electricity and heat must then be gen-

erated from the wastewater in the local treat-

ment and biogas plants. In Hanoi in Vietnam,

Qingdao in China and Outapi in Namibia, Cor-

nel has accompanied construction of the first

plants of this kind. Particularly in Mexico

City, all of that sounds like a distant vision:

here most of the wastewater flows from the

sewers untreated into rivers and ends up in

the sea.

NEW INFRASTRUCTUREIn the north of the megacity at least there is

some prospect of improvement. Here they

are building the world’s largest sewer tunnel

and sewage works. With a diameter of six

meters, the “Túnel Emisor Oriente” is almost

as big as the Gotthard Tunnel. But at 62 kilo-

meters it is six kilometers longer. The tunnel

can channel up to 150 cubic meters of water

per second from the city. When it presum-

ably comes on stream in 2018, the flooding

in the city could be little more than a dis-

tant memory. And the “Planta de Atotonil-

co,” which is being built an hour’s drive by

car north of the city center at the end of the

tunnel, should convert around 60 percent of

the black water from Mexico City into grey

water. At a rate of 50 cubic meters a second,

enough to irrigate 80,000 hectares of land

in the region. The sewage sludge ends up in

a biogas plant, which will provide around 60

percent of the energy that the sewage plant

needs: for many years the city has simply

put off dealing with the problems; the only

solution now is a massive infrastructure up-

grade.

Residents of Mexico City need 500 liters of bottled drinking water

per person per year – the highestconsumption anywhere in the world.

In future, about 60 percent of the city’s wastewater will be purified at the Atotonilco wastewater treatment plant.

A pipe as big as a rail tunnel: Mexico is buildingthe longest sewer tunnel in the world.

37


Automated screen systems scoop debris fromthe sewer system.

It is one of the world’s largest infrastructureprojects: once completed the “Túnel Emisor Ori-ente” (TEO) will lead to a sprawling wastewatertreatment plant in Hidalgo province 62 kilome-ters from Mexico City. When heavy rains come,the Emisor Oriente can handle 150 cubic metersof water per second – equivalent to around1,000 full bathtubs. The task of the new sewagetunnel is to take the strain off and supplementthe existing sewers in the Mexican capital. Theold systems struggle to cope as the city contin-

The solution will also take a radical shift in

attitudes, as is evident from the gathering

of locals one evening in a shack between

vegetable plots in Iztapalapa. It is here that

an allotment cooperative meets which also

includes civil protection officer Luis Mon -

real. Stallholder Doña Luz has also brought

along a bowl of pickled cauliflower. Home-

grown, everyone can try. “Even better than

the last time,” the others extol its virtues.

For a few years the men and women have

been farming a plot of land, half as big as a

soccer field. They also offer tours and work-

shops devoted to organic farming. “We

SERVICES FOR LOCAL

GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY

BILFINGER WATERTECHNOLOGIESWith its brands Passavant, JohnsonScreens, Geiger, Airvac, Diemme,Roediger, Noggerath and Roevac,Bilfinger Water Technologies ranksamong the world’s largest suppliersof plant, components and servicesin the water and wastewater tech-nology sector. Its expertise coverswater and waste treatment, theseparation of solids from liquidsand gases, and vacuum technology.The company has been operating on all continents for decades. Therange of services also includes water extraction systems for water-works, power stations and seawa-ter desalination plants as well ashigh-pressure filter presses thatcan be used to dehydrate mud pro-duced in sectors such as mining.WWW.WATER.BILFINGER.COM

SCREENS FROM

BILFINGERwant to get people to appreciate the natu-

ral cycles,” says Luis Monreal. The project is

bearing fruit: a few years ago they built the

district’s first rainwater system. Many resi-

dents copied it. The biggest system to date

channels the water from the market roof

into a cistern, which is used to water the

neighborhood soccer pitch.

“Maybe there’s only a certain amount

we can do,” says Luis Monreal, whose job

shows him clearly how water shortages

and floods make life difficult for people.

“But we can’t afford to sit back and do

nothing.” |

in Mexico and installed with the aid of heavy-liftcranes.

Bilfinger also delivers wastewater treatmentplants in Greater Mexico City that inject oxygeninto the sedimentation tank, so-called brush aer-ators: “We recommend our mammoth rotor,”says Dr. Bernd Pfaff from Bilfinger Water Tech-nologies. The nine-meter-long aerating elementsturn at a rate of 72 rpm and add atmosphericoxygen to the sedimentation tanks with theirpaddles. “The gearboxes were developed in-house; the equipment is low-maintenance, ro-bust and extremely durable,” says Bernd Pfaff:“In Germany, they have been running fordecades.” Text BERN D HAUSER

ues to sink due to the volume of groundwaterthat is extracted. As a result, the incline of thewastewater pipes is declining and in some cas-es even reversed so that giant pipes have to beused. This problem is aggravated during therainy season when the sewers have to managetorrential downpours. Many city districts arethen regularly flooded.

To date, ten kilometers of the Emisor Orientehave been completed and are now operational.Enormous pumping stations connect the systemto the old sewers. Giant automated screens fromBilfinger Water Technologies provide protectionfor the pumps.

The screens are installed in 30- to 50-meter-deep shafts in the aggressive wastewater of theEmisor Oriente. They comprise rows of four- tosix-meter-long stainless steel bars. The barsform a barrier which prevents the bottles, shoes,clothes, sofa upholstery, timber, car tires and bi-cycles, which the underground stream carriesalong with it, from ending up in the pumps andpotentially destroying them.

The debris deposited on the screen can quick-ly block the flow of water, much like a beaverdam on a river. Sensors are therefore installed tomeasure the water level behind and in front ofthe screens and, when necessary, activate a clawwhich runs down the shaft on a monorail track.Once it reaches the screen bars, the claw buck-et opens and removes the debris. Engineerssometimes adopt rather poetic language: “bardeposits” is their term for the accumulated rub-bish which the claw bucket then brings to thesurface where it falls into containers via a con-veyor belt. This year the largest of these fully au-tomated systems built to date was delivered tothe El Caracol pumping station with its 50-meter-deep shaft. “And we expect orders at other sta-tions,” says Philippe Anstotz, Business UnitManager at Bilfinger Water Technologies.

Bilfinger is also supporting the extension ofthe sewer system with so-called cut-off valves.These large gates are used to close off parts ofthe Emisor Oriente or secondary sewers in orderto regulate water distribution or to carry outmaintenance work in the dry. “We are also in-stalling these kinds of gate valves in Europeancities; there they measure between one and foursquare meters,” says Philippe Anstotz. “But inMexico City we have 98-ton monsters with asurface area of nearly 50 square meters.” Thegates are manufactured in Germany, assembled

Planting seeds – and an idea: an association in Itztapalapacollects rainwater and grows its own vegetables.

39


WATER MANAGEMENT IN OUTAPIIn Namibia, Bilfinger Water Technologies isinvolved in a research project for the reuseof water.

Namibia is the driest country in sub-SaharanAfrica. 40 percent of the population is withoutaccess to clean water. The situation in the coun-try’s capital, Windhoek, and in the north of thecountry where the majority of people live, is es-pecially critical. Here in the Cuvelai-Etoshabasin, “CuveWaters,” an initiative supported bythe German Ministry of Education and Research,is working to improve the water supply andsewage systems for the population. In additionto systems for the collection of rain and flood-waters as well as the desalination of ground -water, a pilot project for the sustainable reuseof water in the small city of Outapi is of tremen-dous importance for the future.

The project is located in an informal settle-ment in the village of Outapi. Here, communitytoilets and public washhouses were built. Usinga so-called vacuum sewerage system from Bil-finger Water Technologies, the wastewater isrouted to a wastewater purification plant thatwas designed together with the Technical Uni-versity of Darmstadt. There it is purified to theextent that it can be used to irrigate fields. Aportion of the proceeds from the sale of the har-vest is used for the operation of the system, thesame with the electricity that is generated in abiogas plant from sludge and agricultural waste.The hygienically treated and dried fermentationresidue is used as fertilizer in the fields.

The project, which is headed by the Institutefor Social-Ecological Research in Frankfurt, pro-motes cohesion among many local stakeholders,provides access to safe water for some 1,500people, creates jobs and contributes to improve-ments in the health and well-being of the popu-lace. CUVEWATERS.NET

Peter Cornel heads the IWAR Institute at theTechnical University of Darmstadt. As one of theworld’s leading experts for wastewater manage-ment, he advocates small facilities which allowfor the reuse of water.

Professor Cornel, water consumption has increased tenfoldover the past one hundred years. How can we secure ourwater supply in the future? The problem begins primarily in the megacities. No city with

millions of inhabitants can exist if limited to the use of its own

groundwater. They have to tap into the resources of surrounding

regions. The bigger the city, the further they have to reach –

which has a significant impact on costs. When a system ceases

to be economically viable, interest in new solutions grows.

What could they look like?We need systems for reuse. In Qingdao, China, a city with more

than eight million inhabitants, our institute worked together

with Tongji University in Shanghai on the implementation of a

project for a new municipal district with 15,000 residents. Here,

the wastewater from showers and washing machines will

be put through an intermediate purification process and

then used to flush toilets. It will subsequently be processed

through the district’s own wastewater treatment plant, a

step which allows it to be used for irrigation purposes. This

can cut water consumption in half.

That sounds fantastic, but isn’t it only possible to imple-ment such a system where cities are developed fromscratch? No, it can be done everywhere. In a slum in a small city in

Namibia we installed vacuum sanitation systems. These sys-

tems are connected to a local wastewater treatment plant

with biogas and electrical generation. Very similar concepts are

also being implemented by Hamburg Wasser in a new residen-

tial district in Hamburg. Bilfinger is involved in both projects.

What are the chances of bringing about wide-scale application through individual projects?Our projects are, first and foremost, research efforts that are

financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as

well as participating companies. The objective, however, is for

them to pay for themselves in the future. In Namibia, we are

transforming sludge into heat and electricity. And the farmers

who profit from clean water also contribute a share of the fi -

nancing. At the same time, faucets have been installed at which

people can pay for water with a chip card – we are tal king

here about very small payments. But they too help to make

the system independent. The less these “semi-central sys-

tems” depend on state subsidies, the faster they will multiply.

Mexico City is currently building the longest sewage tunnel and the largest wastewater treatment plant in theworld. Not exactly a “semi-central solution.” Mexico City needs a tremendous amount of immediate help.

It would be presumptuous to tell them to build only “semi-

central plants.” Over the long term, however, the city must

also save water. If you want reuse, you have to redesign cities,

beginning with the administration: Often, one municipal au-

thority is responsible for water supply and another for waste -

water. Close cooperation is necessary here. Another factor is

how we use water. It needs to be priced appropriately.

A delicate issue. Access to clean water has been recognized as a basic human

right by the UN. Those who can’t pay for it must nonetheless

have access to it. Many people, however, could offset a slight-

ly higher price by reducing consumption. With consumption

levels at about 300 liters per person per day in Mexico City,

this is certainly feasible. Conditions are comparable with the

former German Democratic Republic: water was free and

consumption was at up to 400 liters per day. Something so

valuable should also have an appropriate price.

WWW.IWAR.TU-DARMSTADT.DE

“CITIES HAVE TO BE REDESIGNED.”

Interview MATH IAS BECKER | Photos THOMAS KI ENZLE


Demand for water in the hot and dry countrieson the Arabian Peninsula and in the PersianGulf is enormous. Most of the freshwater isproduced in seawater desalination plants, anoperation which is extremely energy intensive.Bilfinger has now managed to optimize theprocess so that production increases by 15 percent, “and this by means of relatively sim-ple technical changes to the plants,” saysClemens Wolters from Bilfinger Deutsche Babcock Middle East.

Seawater in the Persian Gulf contains up to 45 grams of salt per liter. When freshwater is produced from this seawater, it is generallydone in plants that work according to theevaporation principle. Bilfinger has developeda process where seawater is heated up to theboiling point and then channeled into cham-bers that are 20 meters long and four meterswide. Water vaporizes as a result of the nega-tive pressure in the chambers. Steam condens-

es on bundles made up of thousands of thincooling tubes and drops of fresh water are thetreasure that is withdrawn and collected. 15 to20 such chambers with ever-increasing levelsof negative pressure are chained together toproduce as much fresh water as possible.

Saltwater also runs through the coolingtubes: Initially, seawater in the tubes servesas a cooling medium which ensures that thesteam in the chambers condenses. Then thesaltwater is brought to a boil outside thechambers before it is funneled back inside toevaporize.

About 10,000 cubic meters of seawater issent through each of these production unitsper hour and, from that, 1,000 cubic meters offreshwater is produced. Dozens of these unitsmake up large desalination plants.

“In order to make the process more effi-cient, you have to increase the speed of thesaltwater that runs through the cooling tubesand the vaporizing chambers,” explainsClemens Wolters. This, however, leads toproblems: “When the water is pushed throughmany thousands of small cooling water tubes,frictional resistance increases dramatically. Itwouldn’t be possible for tubes or pumps tohold out for very long.”

The solution, therefore: “We set up bypass-es.” The water boxes are directly connectedwith high-caliber pipes so that not all of theprocess water needs to be pumped through thedelicate cooling tubes. As a result, tubes andpumps are spared while the water and steamflow rate is increased. Bilfinger will use thepatented technology for the first time as partof a complete overhaul of a desalination plantin Shuwaikh, Kuwait. Text BERN D HAUSER

Bypass pipes

Boiler

Seawater

Brine

Pump

Distillate(drinking water)

EUREKA! SOLUTIONS FROM BILFINGER

SEAWATER DESALINATIONBECOMING MORE EFFICIENT

The principle of seawater desalination

HOT WATER SUPPLIES

Bilfinger Water Technologies has developed a technical con-trol system for wastewater treatment plants based on fuzzylogic. Fuzzy logic is used when processes are so complicatedthat they cannot be described mathematically. The mathemat-ical model takes account of uncertainties and fuzziness. Thisis also useful for the control of wastewater treatment plantsbecause composition of the water is constantly changing, butthe purification process always has to deliver the same goodresults.

Bilfinger sells its control system under the name Enerlogic.It has a modular design and can be configured for a range ofplants. WWW.WATER.BILFINGER.COM

MVV, an energy company in Mannheim, Germany, built themost powerful district heating accumulator in Germany on thegrounds of the Mannheim power plant. It was manufacturedand installed by Bilfinger VAM Anlagentechnik. The districtheating accumulator makes it possible to react much moreflexibly to varying levels of input from solar and wind energyin the German electrical grid. In the future, when there are

fluctuating heating needs in the district heating network, thepower plant no longer has to be started up for short periodsand then shut down again because the heating accumulatoracts as a buffer. In the cylindrical, thickly insulated steel tank,which, with a diameter of 40 meters, 43 million liters of hotwater can be stored temporarily for several days at almost thesame temperature level and retrieved when needed.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

FUZZY LOGIC CONTROLS PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY

43


The piston rod in the gear unit of the giant ma-

chine for carbamide production was on its last

legs. It had been installed just two months ago

to do its work in the carbon compactor – and

now it has brought operation to a halt. The in-

stallation in the bearing was somewhat offline

and, as a result, all of the forces in the com-

pactor came to bear again and again on the

same vulnerable point. Enough was enough. The

rod gave out. “Cumulative fatigue!” was the di-

agnosis of the materials analysts from Bilfinger

Chemserv who had rushed in to help. When you

expend yourself doing sports, you take a break –

a luxury not afforded to machines. People, those

creatures of comfort, turn the meaning of the

term on its head: body builders train their mus-

cles specifically in accordance with this princi-

ple by quickly lifting weights without a break

in order to stress their muscles. They then grow

and bring a smile to the face of the person flex-

ing them in front of a mirror. Piston rods, on the

other hand, have a different fate. They are sim-

ply replaced.

Text JAN RÜBEL | Illustration SKIZZOMAT

CUMULATIVEFATIGUE?

What exactly is ...

EUREKA! SOLUTIONS FROM BILFINGER

To reduce the environmental burden,Bilfinger Construction transportedequipment for the construction of twobridges in Norway by sea. Instead ofsending more than 100 heavily loadedtrucks to the site, the excavators,

floating pontoons, rotating towercranes and other equipment wereloaded onto ships in Hamburg. Bilfin-ger is erecting 100-meter-tall pylonsfor the Dalsfjord Bridge on Norway’swest coast. The Tresfjord Bridge being

built 130 kilometers further north ispart of the E 136 motorway expansionproject. The foundation work for thepiles is especially complex due to thedepth of the North Sea at this location– up to 40 meters.

TRANSPORT ON THE WATER INSTEAD OF THE ROAD

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Bilfinger has signed a partnering agreement with e³ computing that will allow thecompanies to jointly realize energy efficient data centers. The prize-winning e³technology integrates cooling elements directly in the computer cabinets so thatheat can be channeled out where it is produced and elaborate air conditioningsystems are no longer necessary for the rooms.

To date, about 50 percent of the energy consumed by data centers went to-ward cooling the servers. With the new concept, energy use can be reduced tobetween five and ten percent. In addition, the computers can then be arranged inspace-saving configurations without overheating.

The objective of the partnering agreement between HSG Facility Managementand e³ computing is the concept, design, construction and operation of highly ef-ficient data centers from a single source. And together with this objective comesa cost guarantee. WWW.E3C.EU

BILFINGER SIGNS

PARTNERING AGREEMENT

WATER-COOLEDDATA CENTERS

45


Couples kiss on the Pont de la Concorde, across the

way, politicians are working in the parliament and a

stone’s throw further, tourists are waiting to be let in-

to the impressionist exhibition in the Orangerie. And

in the barge that he has converted into his office and

apartment on the river Seine in the heart of Paris,

Jacques Rougerie can barely sit still. There is still so

much to be done!

It’s all because of Sea Orbiter: the marine research

station that he dreamed up, designed and of which a

model version has already been tested in Norway.

Floating with the ocean’s currents, the station rises

above the water in the form of a gigantic shark’s fin.

It will house a 40-member international team, 18 of

whom will spend between one and three years on

board.

The Sea Orbiter is equipped with a pressure cham-

ber for divers as well as underwater docks for sub-

marines and underwater robots for exploring the

ocean depths. The tower rises 27 meters above the

water and reaches 31 meters below the surface. Ulti-

mately, the goal is to install observation stations like

this in every ocean in the world that can communi-

cate with each other and perform simultaneous ex-

periments.

According to Rougerie, studies have cost €2.5

million to date and construction will swallow up €35

million. Watch manufacturer Rolex is said to be inter-

ested in financing part of the construction. Its

chronographs were used for the first moon landing T

HE

CIV

ILIZA

TIO

N

OF O

CE

AN

PE

OP

LES

The French architect Jacques Rougerie designs visionary underw

ater habitats for living and working. His current

project is the Sea Orbiter: the floating research tower is set

to revolutionize oceanography.

Text and photos UL

I RE

INH

AR

DT

| Illustrations JAC

QU

ES

RO

UG

ER

IE

Some say the Sea Orbiter reminds them ofa shark’s fin; others think it looks like agiant seahorse. Jacques Rougerie’sdesigns are influenced by marine biology.

Jacques Rougerie in his workshop on the Seine


so it seems it is a company with explorer DNA. Rougerie

is confident that he will find sponsors for the €15 mil-

lion that are still lacking. In an ideal situation, construc-

tion could begin as early as 2014 in a French shipyard.

It’s expected to take 18 months to build, with the launch

coming at the end of 2015. It would then be tested in

the Mediterranean and in 2017 be ready for use in the

Gulf Stream of the Atlantic.

71 DAYS UNDER WATERScientific support is being provided by the European

Space Agency and by the French marine research insti-

tute, Ifremer. The questions: Does the ocean hold the

answer to finding food for our future population of up

to ten billion people? Which new medicines might be

discovered there? How can we use waves and ocean

currents to produce energy in a more environmentally

friendly way in the future? “It’s not about exploiting the

oceans, it’s about innovations that could solve some of

the world’s problems,” said Rougerie. The findings must

therefore be made available to all of mankind. The Sea

Orbiter project will also involve schools, universities,

museums and research laboratories, which will be able

to follow the daily research online, in real time and

have access to scientific findings.

Even further in the future, Rougerie envisions having

entire villages under water, not to expand the living

space, but to really experience the environment. He

says: “People who live in the mountains, internalize the

laws of the mountains.” Being determines conscious-

ness. “Therefore, there must also be an ‘ocean people’

that lives under water and assimilates the conditions

there.” For 20 years, together with a few colleagues,

Jacques Rougerie has held a world record: he lived in a

pressurized capsule in the sea for 71 days. “I wasn’t

bored for a single second,” he says: “How could I be with

a view of the water?”

IN THE THINKERS’ SPHEREThe first powerful image that he can ever remember

was the mighty waters off Ivory Coast where he spent

his childhood. “That view shaped my life,” says the now

68-year-old – and all of his creative work, too. For

decades, tourists have explored the underwater world

in the Port-Cros National Park in his Aquascope, a tri-

maran with huge viewing windows in the central hull.

By 1977 he had already designed the Galathée underwa-

ter house: sunk off the coast of Normandy, it was sup-

posed to serve as a camp for researchers to explore the

sea at depths of up to 60 meters. He even designed the

“village sous marin” for NASA, an underwater village

for 50 to 250 people in the Caribbean. The fact that it

was never actually built in the end did not stop

Rougerie from producing visionary designs on an even

bigger scale. In four decades, he believes the time could

be right for “the ocean people”: a giant ray made out of

aluminum, 900 meters long and 500 meters wide: “the

World University of Oceanography” for 7000 students

and academics. Inside the ray, there will be a small port

where several Sea Orbiters can land at the same time. In

2009, he made his first designs on paper and in the

same year he was accepted into the illustrious circle of

thinkers at the “Institut de France” for all of his vision-

ary ideas.

“The members of the Sea Orbiter team are already in

training,” says Jacques Rougerie proudly. They are part

of a program at NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment

Mission Operations) in Aquarias, an underwater labora-

tory off Key Largo,

Florida: “The Sea

Orbiter adventure

has already begun.” |

“It’s not about exploiting the oceans, it’s about innovations that could solve some of the world’s problems.”

The tower rises 27 meters above thewater and reaches 31 meters below the surface. Underwater laboratory capsule Galathée underwater houseThe Aquascope observation trimaran A futuristic vision of the ‘‘ocean people’s town’’

49


BILFINGER NEWS

Vattenfall is investing in new technolo-

gy at the Jänschwalde power plant in

Brandenburg. In block F at the power

plant, traditional oil burners are being

replaced by dry lignite burners with

electric plasma ignition as part of the

modernization works. The technology

was developed by Bilfinger Power

Systems.

Steam generation can be more effec-

tively controlled with dry lignite and

the inefficient starting and stopping of

the plant is avoided. At the same time,

the boiler can be operated over longer

periods at low-load ranges when power

input from renewable energies is high.

The new plant will go into operation at

the end of 2014.

The Bilfinger-endowed Julius Berger

Prize for 2013 has been awarded to a

residential quarter for Sinti and Roma

in Berlin’s Neukölln district. The project

was selected by a jury under Edzard

Reuter, the former head of Daimler.

With the modernization of the apart-

ment buildings, the contractor, Aachen-

er Siedlungs- und Wohnungsgesell -

schaft, demonstrated tremendous en-

trepreneurial and social commitment,

according to Dr. Jochen Keysberg, Mem-

ber of the Executive Board at Bilfinger.

Integration of the families from Ro-

mania is actively promoted. There are

German courses, a drop-in center and a

private organization looks after health

care for children. The programs on offer

are geared toward all needy people in

the area. An auditorium is open to the

area’s artists.

The €10,000 prize is in remembrance

of Julius Berger, one of the founding fa-

thers of today’s Bilfinger SE. The Jewish

entrepreneur died in the Theresienstadt

concentration camp in 1942. The prize is

presented every three years for exem-

plary urban development projects in

Berlin.

Through its new subsidiary SPM Project

Management, Bilfinger bauperformance

has assumed responsibility for project

management at the Berlin opera house

renovation project. The renovation in-

cludes the historical Unter den Linden

opera house as well as the directorship

and the rehearsal center. The group of

buildings will be adapted to meet to-

day’s needs while paying close attention

to conditions relating to the preserva-

tion of historical monuments. Raising

the roof in the opera hall will improve

the resonance in the room and an un-

derground tunnel will in future connect

the rehearsal center with the opera

building.

The state opera house Unter den Lin-

den was built as the royal court opera

house in the 18th century. The building

suffered significant damage during the

Second World War and was rebuilt in

the 1950s.

Bilfinger bauperformance is special-

ized in the planning, management and

optimization of real estate projects.

To date, the roughly 3,000 residents of

Rjukan in southern Norway rarely saw

sunlight from September to March, due

to the surrounding mountains. Now, at

least the visitors to the market square

will be spoiled by light all year round:

in October, giant mirrors that redirect

the sun’s rays into the valley went into

operation.

Three mirrors each with a surface

area of 17 square meters follow the path

of the sun and reflect the light directly

onto the market square. They operate on

wind and solar energy and were in-

stalled by Bilfinger Industrial Services

Norway.

Already 100 years ago, entrepreneur

Samuel Eyde wanted to light up the for-

mer industrial town with mirrors, but

he foundered due to the technical possi-

bilities of his time. Ten years ago, the

artist Martin Andersen picked up where

Eyde had left off. The main sponsor for

the project is Norsk Hydro – the compa-

ny that was founded by Samuel Eyde.

Plasma ignition forJänschwalde

Berger Prize for project in Berlin

Renovation of Berlin’sstate opera house

Sun mirror lights up the valley

Power-to-gas: pilot plant for E.on

In the town of Falkenhagen in Branden-

burg, E.on has begun operation of a

power-to-gas pilot plant. Using electrol-

ysis, the plant converts electricity gen-

erated from renewable sources to hydro-

gen and feeds it into the regional natu-

ral gas grid. The plant has an output of

two megawatts, equivalent to the pro-

duction of 360 cubic meters of hydrogen

per hour. Bilfinger GreyLogix is respon-

sible for the automation technology.

With power-to-gas technologies,

electricity from fluctuating renewable

energies can be converted, added to the

natural gas grid and thus temporarily

stored. Within the framework of the

Group’s research and development ac-

tivities, Bilfinger GreyLogix also works

together closely with the clean technol-

ogy company Sunfire, which is located

in Dresden. The start-up develops tech-

nologies to produce synthetic fuel or

methane gas from electricity.

Bilfinger subsidiary Tebodin has won an

order for the detail engineering of a car-

bon dioxide capture and storage (CCS)

plant in Abu Dhabi. The project is the

first of its kind in the United Arab Emir -

ates.

The new plant will capture carbon

dioxide emissions generated from steel

production and store them in the Ru-

maitha oil field. There, the approximate-

ly 800,000 tons of CO2 per year will be

used to improve the efficiency of oil pro-

duction. Previously, natural gas was in-

jected into the deposit in order to gener-

ate the pressure necessary for produc-

tion and to optimize the output. That

natural gas can now be put to better use.

The United Arab Emirates are among

the countries with the world’s largest

reserves of oil and gas and for years

have been investing in improved pro-

duction techniques which are especially

important as oil prices increase. The

plant will go into operation in 2016.

CO2 separation for oil production

51


INSIDE STORY

Susan Rooi, 30, is an emancipated woman. She operates the big pipe-bending machine at Bilfinger Power Africa in Pretoria. She would like to give her children a good start in life.

SOME 70,000 PEOPLE WORK FOR BILFINGER. EACH OF THEM HAS THEIR OWN STORY TO TELL.

What did you enjoy most as a child?Having a mother. This is not always the case in Africa

where many mothers die young and many children

grow up as orphans.

What was the best year of your life?2007. That’s when I got married.

What are you afraid of?I’m not afraid of anything. But I worry about children

who don’t want to go to school. They have no future.

What’s your favorite pastime?Being together with my children and reading books

with them. That is a start to their education. And it’s

a very enjoyable experience for me.

What are you thankful for?Being a mother.

Do you ever get homesick?Yes, it always hits me on Wednesdays. Then I haven’t

seen my children for three days and I miss them ter-

ribly. That’s why I usually drive home after work and

then drive back to Pretoria early Thursday morning.

It’s a three-hour trip each way.

Do you have a favorite memory?I remember very well how my boss made me a super-

visor three years ago. He came and shook my hand.

I was the first woman to become a supervisor.

Your greatest achievement?That I managed to get the job on the bending

machine.

What do you like most about your work?I like the power of my machine. And the concentra-

tion that I need to operate it.

What trait do you find admirable in a man?When he respects his wife and supports her in the

things she does.

What trait do you find admirable in a woman?When she works hard and has confidence in herself.

Who in the world would you most like to meet?I would like to meet God one day. There are a lot of

young women who don’t have work and who are

dependent on their husbands. I would thank God

for the life I can lead.

If you were to give your child one piece of advice, what would it be?Education is the key to success. Take advantage of

your opportunities.

Is there something that you still want to achieve in your life?I would like to be a trainer. Then I would train a lot

of women so that they could recognize for them-

selves everything they are capable of.

Your motto?It’s never too late.

Interview EVA WOLFANG EL | Photo FRAN K SCHULTZE

SUSAN ROOI

BILFINGER MAGAZINE01.2014

www.magazine.bilfinger.com

Published by:Bilfinger SECarl-Reiss-Platz 1– 568165 MannheimGermanyTel. + 49 (0) 621 [email protected]

www.bilfinger.com

Editorial director:Michael Weber, Bilfinger SEProject management:Dr. Daniela Simpson, Bilfinger SE,Bernd Hauser, agentur.zsDesign and Layout:Steven Dohn, Rebecca Drew,Bohm und Nonnen, Büro für GestaltungPhoto editing: Barbara Bylek, agentur.zsCover photo: shutterstock/NeamovLitho: Katja Leppin, Thomas Nikolai Paper: 100% recycling

Printing: ColorDruck Solutions GmbHTranslation: Baker & Harrison, Bruce MacPhersonCirculation coordination: Business Service Weber

Bilfinger Magazine is published twice a year in Germanand English. All rights are reserved. Items by named contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher. The reprinting or electronic distribution ofarticles or excerpts of articles is prohibited without theexpress permission of the publisher.

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