News and Projects

Together in a consortium with our colleagues from Bohlen & Doyen Bau GmbH, PPS Pipeline Systems GmbH and HABAU Hoch- und Tiefbaugesellschaft m.b.H., FRIEDRICH VORWERK is involved in the realization of a section of the SEL. The approximately 24 km long pipeline section with a diameter of DN 1200 is located in the administrative district of Stuttgart and the construction of the SEL is expected to be completed there by the end of 2024.

The Süddeutsche Erdgasleitung (SEL for short) is an indispensable element in the necessary conversion of our energy infrastructure. The approximately 250-kilometre-long pipeline, which runs from Lampertheim (Hesse) via Ludwigsburg (Baden-Württemberg) to Bissingen (Bavaria), was planned by the gas transport network operator terranets bw. From 2030, the SEL is expected to connect Baden-Württemberg to the European transport routes through which green gases and hydrogen will flow in the future.

The SEL, planned as a hydrogen pipeline, will initially be operated with natural gas, thus securing the energy supply during the transition to renewable energies. The connection to more modern gas-fired power plants will initially enable the continued secure supply of heat and electricity to all households during the phase-out of coal-fired power generation. The switch from nuclear power and coal to natural gas has already made it possible to reduce CO2 emissions from power plants by more than 50 percent. By participating in a project like this, VORWERK can help to make a further contribution to a CO2-neutral energy supply in the Rhine-Neckar region and the greater Stuttgart area.

The construction of the SEL will be realized in several sections, depending on the concrete development of demand. The route is divided as follows:

Lampertheim - Viernheim: By the end of 2024, it is planned to complete the construction of a gas pressure regulating and metering station as well as a pipeline section of around 500 m in length.
Mannheim - Hüffenhardt: Compared to the other sections, this section is still at an early planning stage.
Siegelsbach - Esslingen a.N.: The approx. 81 km were divided into three further subsections, in which the construction of the SEL will be realized between 2024 and 2026.
Esslingen a.N. - Bissingen: This pipeline section of the SEL completes the connection to the upstream gas transport system and is expected to be realized by 2032.

We were commissioned with the 24 km long pipeline section from Heilbronn to Löchgau, a subsection of the third section.

After terranets bw had already started acquiring the rights of way and pipeline rights in summer 2020, the first preliminary investigations along the route were carried out in spring 2021. This was followed by explorations of the subsoil and mapping of protected animals until October 2021, and around a year later, from fall 2022, all archaeological work was carried out on this section of the pipeline.

At the end of last year, further measures to prepare for the pipeline construction began. Among other things, three pipe storage yards were set up along the route in Leingarten, Lauffen a. N. and Löchgau. As a result, the next step was to deliver a total of around 1,400 pipes to the storage yards, which were transported from Mülheim an der Ruhr to Heilbronn by environmentally friendly rail. The approximately 18 m long DN 1200 line pipes, which are installed in the SEL, come from the plant of Europipe GmbH in North Rhine-Westphalia. Hydrogen-compatible steel was used as the material so that the gas pipes are H2-ready and therefore suitable for transporting hydrogen.

Our work started on time in March 2024 and is scheduled for completion in fall 2024 as agreed. Our colleagues are therefore once again working flat out on this project in order to hand over the pipeline section on time.

(September 2024)