Ghelamco has completed the construction of its first three photovoltaic farms as a part of a program to achieve energy neutrality announced in May this year. Production of clean electricity will soon begin on them. This is a first-of-its-kind, landmark project in Poland, which is in line with the developer’s ESG strategy and responds to the energy crisis in Europe.
Photovoltaic farms with a capacity of nearly 3 MW have been built in three locations in the Opole province. Ghelamco is aiming first and foremost to meet the energy demand for the Warsaw UNIT skyscraper. With the use of clean energy, CO2 emissions throughout the building’s lifecycle will be reduced by more than 50 percent, and in terms of consumption of utilities by as much as 70 percent.
“Proprietary photovoltaic farms are one of the key elements of our ESG strategy, along with a range of solutions such as smart energy management systems, the Signal OS platform for tenants and the use of low-carbon building materials. This will help us meet our goal of achieving energy neutrality by 2025. These activities take on particular importance in the context of the current energy crisis in Poland and Europe. Becoming independent of conventional energy and turning to clean energy from renewable sources is not only ecological but also essential for the uninterrupted operation of the business,” says Jarosław Zagórski, Commercial and Business Development Director, Ghelamco Poland.
Ghelamco’s more than 200-metre skyscraper at Rondo Daszyńskiego is already one of the world’s greenest office buildings, having become the first high-rise building in Poland to receive BREEAM certification at the highest possible level – Outstanding. Every day, 40,000 sensors and 800 meters as a part of the state-of-the-art Building Energy Management System ensure optimum energy consumption by the building Thanks to this and a number of other implemented technological solutions, Warsaw UNIT’s average energy consumption is nearly 30 percent lower than that of comparable high-rise office buildings. Ghelamco also enables its tenants to actively participate in the process of sustainable utility management through a mobile app that is part of its proprietary Signal OS operating system.
“Powered 100 percent by clean energy, Warsaw UNIT is our first but not last step to reduce CO2 emissions. Our strategy is to power entire office buildings, both Ghelamco’s ongoing projects as well as our own office, with the energy produced from our own renewable sources. It is an approach strongly focused on the sustainability of the organization but also of the products being developed, which should be seen as very responsible and unique in the Polish market. We are already planning to invest in more photovoltaic installations, but we are also looking into other alternative sources of renewable energy,” announced Jarosław Fiutowski, Member of the Management Board for ESG Strategy and Innovation, Ghelamco Poland.
Ultimately, Ghelamco will build 11 photovoltaic systems with a total capacity of 10 MW in the first phase of the project. The contract for their implementation has been signed with the Polish company Revolt Energy.
