Back-up power supply for BOS radio network in Saxony

Initial situation
Meißen County is responsible for setting up and maintaining a cross-municipality alerting and messaging system in the region. It operates its own digital radio alerting network as a BOS (Behörden u. Organisationen mit Sicherheitsaufgaben). In the autumn of 2017, storm Herwart caused massive damage and local power outages in eastern Germany. In the event of a long-term power failure, the district, as the lower disaster control authority, must ensure that communications are maintained. Until now, there has been no reliable backup power supply for such blackout scenarios.

Challenge
The Meißen District Office uses the BOS radio system for digital alerting of the fire brigade, rescue services and disaster control in emergency and crisis situations. All radio stations are connected to the public 230 V network. In the event of power failures, the radio system must be kept operational without interruption for at least 72 hours. Up to now, portable emergency power systems with combustion engines have been used for local incidents, but their running time is severely limited and they require an enormous amount of manpower for deployment. As an alternative solution, a test installation with EFOY Pro fuel cells was operated from January 2018. Based on the promising results, the Meißen District Office commissioned EFOY partner FKS GmbH to equip the BOS sites with nine EFOY ProCubes energy solutions.

Solution
The EFOY ProCubes used consist of an EFOY Pro 2400 fuel cell, a 60 Ah lead gel battery, an M5 fuel cartridge and a specially designed collection container for the condensation water produced. In interaction with the software of the fuel cell and the alarm converter, the control and monitoring of the network and the plant is carried out. In order to be prepared for an emergency, the district office carries out fixed test runs twice a year, where a power failure is simulated and operation is ensured and tested exclusively via the fuel cells.