The global company Hanon Systems, which includes its Ilava branch, Hanon Systems Slovakia, ranks among the three largest manufacturers of components for the automotive industry in the world. It also does not hide its ambitions to protect the planet for future generations. To ensure these aspirations are not just empty words “on paper”, the company has set a clear goal – to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.

Thanks to the company’s electricity supplier Slovenské elektrárne – energetické služby, s.r.o., Hanon Systems Slovakia is well on its way to fulfilling this goal, and as a bonus, reduce its energy costs. All this thanks to solar panels on operating lease installed in combination with our smart battery storage brAIn. Both technologies were acquired from the supplier without any upfront investment costs.

What characterizes the operation of Hanon Systems Slovakia?

Hanon Systems Slovakia, based in Ilava, is primarily engaged in the production of air conditioning systems for car manufacturers, such as Kia, Hyundai, Ford, VW, BMW, McLaren or Porsche. Its annual electricity consumption is approximately 20 gigawatt hours and the company currently employs more than 900 employees. Apart from a short summer shutdown, the company is in non-stop operation seven days a week.

The production hall, located in an industrial zone on the outskirts of the city, features a 25,800 m² roof area offering perfect conditions for a solar panel system. Inside the hall, we find energy-intensive production with a sufficiently large regulation potential, ideal for the installation of our brAIn battery storage.

Solution design and installation process

During the initial energy audit, we studied a 15-minute electricity consumption diagrams of the delivery point from the last two years. According to this data, the supplier suggested an ideal capacity for the local energy source – solar panels with an installed capacity of 499.5 kWp. Once we knew the consumption profile and the planned capacity of the green source, we designed an optimal battery storage capacity of 864 kWh. When designing the storage capacity, we also checked whether the company meets the conditions for battery rental under the Smart battery storage brAIn as a Service model.

Subsequently, the installation site was inspected, during which all construction and installation modifications necessary for quick and trouble-free connection of the storage to the operation were identified.

Due to a lack of space, we had to divide the storage into two systems in an exterior container version with a capacity of 432 kWh. The containers were placed on top of each other and interconnected with a walking platform with retractable stairs. The storage system must be located near the main distribution box, which often complicates the situation for us and requires a certain amount of creativity :-)

Rooftop solar panels were installed independent of the storage, with installation provided by the energy supplier Slovenské elektrárne – energetické služby, s.r.o. Subsequently, they were connected to the brAIn battery storage in order to optimize the production of green energy.

What did Hanon Systems Slovakia acquire?

1. Instant cash-flow positivity, free storage and an annual financial reward

Thanks to solar panels on operating lease, Hanon Systems Slovakia has become so-called cash-flow positive, as the cost of leasing solar panels is lower than the cost of electricity consumption from the power grid.

But how is it possible that the company received battery storage from its energy supplier for free? Smart battery storage generates a profit from providing so-called non-certified ancillary services. Under the Smart battery storage brAIn as a Service model, the initial investment is gradually repaid to the supplier, while part of the generated financial effect is also shared with Hanon Systems Slovakia. The company receives it in the form of a fixed annual payment. It is a reward for giving us the opportunity to install the storage and to regulate its consumption and production of electricity. After the end of the 5-year contract and in case of its extension, the supplier increases the amount of remuneration.

2. CO2 savings

By providing non-certified ancillary services, the battery storage brAIn also replaces traditional, predominantly fossil-based, ancillary service providers in an emission-free manner. The brAIn battery system, with a capacity of 864 kWh can thus save approximately 800 tons of CO2(e) emissions annually. After deducting the carbon footprint from the production, installation and disposal of the brAIn storage in the volume of 490 tons of CO2(e), the storage will pay off its carbon debt in the first year of operation.

Thanks to the continuous freeing of battery capacity, the brAIn storage can store more solar surpluses, which increases the utilization of energy from solar panels to 90-100%. By producing its own energy, Hanon Systems Slovakia can save an additional 80 tons of CO2(e) emissions every year.

The company is also able to report this achieved emissions savings using the battery storage brAIn and solar panels in its ESG report, thanks to which the fulfillment of sustainable goals will be even more realistic.

3. Zero worries

Requests, permits, administration... Hanon Systems Slovakia provided excellent cooperation, while FUERGY and the supplier Slovenské elektrárne - energetické služby, s.r.o. took care of everything. It is not only a privilege of the Energy as a Service model, this benefit is also available to customers who purchase the brAIn storage directly.

Regular service and maintenance of the leased solar panels is in the hands of the supplier. At FUERGY, we take care of our battery storage system brAIn. We monitor the storage 24/7 and thanks to an effective system for predicting failures, we can intervene in time, before issues arise. The technology is located in a standard environment, so we service the storage regularly every 6 to 12 months.

Through the FUERGY application, Hanon Systems Slovakia has an overview of its historical, online, as well as planned production and consumption of electricity, as well as the functioning of the battery storage. The FUERGY system also provides automatically generated electricity production and consumption plans.

Roadmap

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