AFAS Campus
Growth without congestion thanks to energy management
Leusden-based software company AFAS takes its Corporate Social Responsibility extremely seriously and wants to inspire others to do so too. Its head office in Leusden (the Clubhuis or Club House) and the AFAS Theater form part of the energy-conscious AFAS Campus. The buildings on this campus currently run on self-generated power as much as possible, and will in the future possibly be sharing electricity capacity with others. This requires advanced energy management. Technolution Spark has developed and implemented the AFAS Campus’s energy management system (EMS).
Growing without congestion
AFAS shows that companies can grow without needing additional transport capacity on the power grid. While this software company does consume energy from the energy supplier, it seeks to work with self-generated power as much as possible. For this reason, in addition to solar panels, the campus has been equipped with storage capacity in the form of batteries and multiple charging plazas for electric vehicles with up to 150 charging stations. Furthermore, AFAS is seeking to create partnerships with other companies in the neighborhood, with a view to sharing capacity with them in the future.
Grid management and energy management of its own
AFAS has its own, closed distribution system, consisting of the AFAS Campus, the AFAS Club House, and the AFAS Theater. The new EMS regulates the distribution of energy across the offices, theater, charging plazas, and other energy consumers. This means AFAS has full control over its own grid and energy management. After an extensive survey of wishes and specifications, the EMS has been configured to optimally match AFAS’s specific requirements
Working on the dream together
Many parties are involved in developing the energy management for the AFAS Campus, including contractors to build it, suppliers of batteries, solar panels, and charging stations, the internal IT department, the grid operator, and the metering company. The EMS has interfaces with systems of all these parties. In the future, connections with the EMSs of other companies may be added to this. As all these parties come together and trust is built, AFAS’s dream will be realized.
Speed and quality
The EMS runs on an industrial PC and has functional interfaces with all energy-related systems on the campus, to allow monitoring and operation. Over the coming period, we will continue working on optimizing energy consumption and congestion management. We will also be integrating the systems of the AFAS Club House and the AFAS Theater into the EMS. After the technical realization and implementation of the EMS, we will also be responsible for maintaining it.
Growing with change
The EMS is very scalable and grows along with changes. Thus, it has regulation scenarios that factor in theater shows and other events. In this way, the EMS not only anticipates the current situation, but also future energy needs. And AFAS has great plans for the future. Two buildings that have already been purchased, The View and The Cube, will soon be connected to the closed distribution system. AFAS is setting a magnificent example of modern energy management. We are very happy to contribute to the realization and further development of this.
