CUSTOMER CASE
RØDOVRE KOMMUNALE FJERNVARME
BACKGROUND
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Rødovre Kommunale Fjernvarmeforsyning – also known as RKF in daily language – was established in September 1985 and became an independent supply department located in the Technical Department, but with its own board of directors. Today, RKF serves around 670 customers, ranging from small to large clients who consume anywhere from 2-3 MWh to 15,000 MWh annually.
Rødovre does not produce heat itself, operating instead as a distribution company that purchases heat from the transmission company VEKS and resells it to its customers, spread across 5 networks. All customers in RKF are on remote metering.
“RKF owns all the large installations, meaning we are responsible for their operation and maintenance. On all these installations, we have CB Svendsen’s FA with PT box or Multi Box, as we must be able to prove to the customer that our equipment is not at fault if they cannot achieve sufficient cooling,” says Brian Kølvig, an engineer at Rødovre Kommunale Fjernvarmeforsyning.
RKF operates with three metering systems, two of which primarily use CB Svendsen’s remote metering devices. “We use CB Svendsen remote meters mainly for our largest customers, and a mix of CB Svendsen and Narrow Band IoT for our medium-sized customers.”
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From landline to GSM network
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The collaboration between CB Svendsen and Rødovre Fjernvarme goes back many years to when remote metering was conducted over landline telephony, using lines from the heating or laundry room for the purpose. When mobile technology became available, the system transitioned to GSM networks and a new generation of remote meters developed by CB Svendsen.
“I am employed to achieve the best results for RKF and our customers, so if the collaboration hadn’t worked optimally, I would have found another supplier/operator. The advantage of using CB Svendsen’s FA products is that we are not dependent on a single meter supplier. I don’t want to lock myself into a single product, aligning with my philosophy of being as versatile and supplier-independent as possible,” says Brian Kølvig.
RKF’s philosophy is not to keep data to itself; the data belongs to the customer, and RKF gladly shares it with them. With the Multi Box, they can grant access to data to a third party – namely, the customer. Therefore, every place with a BMS (Building Management System) has a Multi Box installed. “We are in the process of replacing all our meters as they are retired for statistical measurement. We are upgrading to Multi Boxes with M-Bus output and a data collector FA-40 with Wireless M-Bus,” Brian concludes.