The Tower 115 building used to be a landmark of Bratislava. It has been standing on the banks of the Danube since 1984, and looks as it does today due to extensive reconstruction from 2004 to 2006. Today, the tower is no longer alone by the Danube. It is surrounded by many other high-rise buildings - modern, more efficient and highly digital. In such a lucrative location, Tower 115 must find a way to keep up.
After seventeen years, it was time for another round of modernization for the facility, even when it comes to energy. We took care of it in cooperation with the energy supplier Slovenské elektrárne - energetické služby s.r.o.. In order to reduce energy costs and emission production, we installed our Smart battery storage brAIn in the basement of the Tower 115 building.
What makes Tower 115 unique?
The Tower 115 building has 28 floors, each with an area of 1390m2 and for many years it was under the ownership of the J&T REAL ESTATE, a.s. development company. In addition to offices, warehouses and meeting rooms, it also offers space for shops, restaurants and various types of services.
The building’s annual electricity consumption is 4.7 gigawatt hours. All office equipment, server rooms, elevators, air conditioning, cooling equipment and other technologies run on electricity and require a reliable supply.
Before the pandemic, approximately 3,000 people moved through the tower daily. Although recent changes in working habits have reduced this number a bit, you definitely do not feel any change in the dynamics of the building.
Solution design and installation process
As with all of our projects, we performed an initial energy audit for Tower 115, where we looked at its electricity consumption diagram, operating technologies and the amount of reserved capacity. Based on these results, we chose the optimal storage capacity of 432 kWh for the battery storage unit.
Subsequently, we inspected the building, especially the areas near the main switchboard. The room, which used to serve as a storage room, offers ideal conditions for installing batteries. It is located in the basement, which is not exactly an accessible location from an installation point of view, so we had to transport heavy components over long distances.
Successively, we designed the placement of batteries, inverters and other electrical components in the room. Due to the fact that there was not sufficient ventilation and cooling, it was also necessary to install a cooling system. We also equipped the room with a professional aerosol fire extinguishing system. However, there was no place left for the distribution switchboard, which was solved by installing it from the other side of the room.
In the second phase of energy optimization, we plan to supplement the brAIn battery storage with the regulation of cooling systems and air conditioning via the flexibility brAIn service.
The installation of the brAIn storage within the building made it our largest interior project to date. It is also the first office building to use our technology.
What did Tower 115 get?
Annual bonus for the ability to regulate energy consumption
Get a brAIn storage for free and at the same time receive an annual bonus in thousands of euros? You read that right. This is also possible via the Smart battery storage brAIn as a service model. The storage system for Tower 115 was financed by its energy supplier Slovenské elektrárne - energetické služby, s.r.o..
Nothing changes for Tower 115. The building continues to consume electricity when it needs to, only the brAIn storage decides whether it will be stored electricity or electricity from the grid.
Reduction of the carbon footprint
Reducing the carbon footprint is a problem that almost every office building is dealing with at the moment. However, not everyone has a roof large enough to install solar panels, especially if it is a high-rise building like Tower 115. The Smart battery storage brAIn is a highly affordable solution for any type of building.
Carbon emissions are reduced in a different way than solar panels alone, namely by providing ancillary services, with which it replaces fossil fuel energy sources in an emission-free manner. The Tower 115 building can thus save even more than 400 tons of CO2e annually. The carbon footprint from the production, installation and disposal of the smart battery storage brAIn in the interior design is "only" 57 tons.
Tower 115 can subsequently report this net carbon savings in the form of a carbon offset in the ESG report. A good ESG score not only testifies to the company's efforts in favor of sustainability, but also improves its access to financing.
Zero worries
Dealing with permits, organizing installation or dealing with service and maintenance of technologies are challenging for companies from several aspects. The Smart battery storage brAIn as a service model is completely sufficient if the customer is willing to cooperate in the installation of the storage. And in this case too, we have to highlight the excellent work of the Tower 115 team.
Timetable
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