ENERGY EFFICIENCY ARENA

HOW THE EUROPA-PARK STADION IN FREIBURG IS READYING ITSELF FOR THE ENERGY FUTURE

With capacity for 34,700 fans, steep terraces and modern architecture, Europa-Park Stadion has been the new home ground of professional football club SC Freiburg since October 2021. The stadium has direct links to public transport, features the extensive use of renewable energy types — and has an energy-efficient light control system that uses intelligent presence detectors from ESYLUX.

Even from a distance, the diagonal roof supports of the stadium immediately catch the eye. As the new home of SC Freiburg, Europa-Park Stadion is designed to give the club an identity whilst at the same time satisfying rising demands for functionality, stadium experience and entertainment. Inside, fans benefit from its compact design, steep terraces and their proximity to the pitch. The south stand acts as the optical and emotional centre of the whole stadium and is the only single-level stand with a capacity of up to 8000 standing SC fans.

The stadium can hold up to 34,700 fans, who benefit from its steep terraces and close proximity to the pitch.

STADIUM DESIGNED FOR LOW CO2 EMISSIONS

From the outset of the construction period, which lasted around 3 years, the new stadium was designed not to place a burden on the climate and not to waste any natural resources. "Energy efficiency is a very high priority for us", says Alexander Karthäuser, Stadium Technical Manager. One of the main factors behind the chosen location, for example, was good links to public transport systems with three stops being able to handle more than 10,000 passengers per hour. Chargers are also available for electric cars and electric bikes to encourage fossil-free mobility.

But it is the stadium itself which has the most pioneering energy management system. Since May 2022, work has been progressing on installing the largest stadium roof solar system in the world above the spectator areas. The 15,000 square metre photovoltaic system has 6000 solar modules which will generate up to 2.3 million kWp of power and cover 100 % of the stadium's forecast annual demand. The designers also found an efficient solution for heat supply: both the main building and the turf heating for the pitch and training areas are supplied with district heating using process waste heat from a chemical plant on the nearby industrial estate.

LED LIGHTING CONTROLLED CENTRALLY BY KNX OR PRESENCE DETECTORS

_{The main building houses the restaurant, the dressing rooms and the office spaces for the club executives. COMPACT series presence detectors deliver automated energy efficiency.}

Another important topic in terms of energy consumption at any stadium is lighting. This covers everything from the floodlight system to the artificial light in the fan zones and in the main building, which houses the dressing rooms, the large restaurant and the office space for the club's executives. All the lighting is based on LEDs. In the main areas, it is controlled centrally by a KNX-based system. In all other zones, intelligent COMPACT presence detectors manufactured by ESYLUX deliver presence and daylight-dependent control.

"This enables us to save lots of energy because the lights are switched on and off automatically", continues Alexander Karthäuser. At other locations, he has often found that the lights were still on in half the offices when he went home at night. In this stadium, the detectors prevent this unnecessary energy consumption. They are used in staircases, hallways, sanitary facilities and to control the lights in various rooms. The detectors are more reliable than people and, by switching the lights on and off automatically, they also ensure that the long service life of the LEDs is used to the full.

EFFICIENT IMPROVEMENT IN AIR QUALITY AND BETTER HYGIENE

To include other systems, the planners chose to use presence detector versions with an additional HVAC switching output in the toilets. "The use of the HVAC contact as an additional function for automatic control of the extractor fans has a beneficial effect", adds Karthäuser. The detector automatically switches on the ventilation system when it detects human presence. The switch-off delay time ensures that the ventilation system continues to deliver fresh air for two minutes after the person has departed, following which the detector automatically switches off the system.

Another feature of the detectors in these highly frequented areas is that they replace the light switch so that the lighting and ventilation can be controlled without contact. "That's a fantastic thing for hygiene", says technical manager Karthäuser. "When several hundred people enter these areas for a short time on a match day and a large number of them have to operate the light switch, then this is not optimally adapted to the necessary needs, especially in this day and age."

CONVENIENT AUTOMATION FOR THE GREENKEEPERS TOO

The presence detectors also alleviate some of the work of Alexander Karthäuser and his colleagues. The automation system means that nobody has to walk round the stadium to check that all the lights have actually been switched off. It is also very convenient in the storage areas used by the greenkeepers, the people who maintain and manage the pitch: "Especially when entering the corresponding storage areas with vehicles or equipment, for example, we benefit from the fact that the lighting reacts simply and straightforwardly to the presence of people."

Another feature he likes is that the detectors can be parameterised by remote control. "That makes our work a great deal easier", says Karthäuser. If he needs to adjust the settings for any reason, he can simply use the remote control to adjust and set the brightness values and the sensitivity, for example. "In the past, the use of ladders was necessary. Settings then had to be adjusted in a correspondingly time-consuming manner. Now the process is much more comfortable and quicker to implement."

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