At Nāst in Torslanda, Gothenburg, a new environment for industrial development and innovation is taking shape. The site includes Tree House – Volvo Cars’ new headquarters – with an energy solution that connects solar panels, battery storage, EV charging infrastructure and buildings in one integrated system.

Buddy Energy has taken overall responsibility for the energy solution. The site has solar panels across several building sections, two battery systems and 160 EV chargers. The next step is to test Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), enabling EV batteries to become flexible resources within the building’s energy system.

Aire provides the software that coordinates and optimizes these resources, taking into account both the site’s needs and opportunities in energy and ancillary services markets. The aim is to continually use each available energy resource where it creates the greatest financial value.

Behind-the-meter optimization

When several energy resources share a site, generation, storage and consumption need to be managed as parts of one integrated system.

Aire’s software coordinates solar generation, batteries, EV charging and the building’s other energy use based on power demand, available capacity and local constraints.

In this project, the buildings have also been connected through an energy-sharing cable. This enables energy sharing between the properties and has eliminated the need for a separate grid connection for the car park.

The integrated energy solution has reduced total power demand by almost 40%. This means lower costs for the property owner and less pressure on the local electricity grid.

From local energy management to automated optimization

Aire also goes beyond a traditional Energy Management System (EMS).

A traditional EMS primarily focuses on what happens behind the meter, such as peak shaving, self-consumption, charging control and cost management. Aire combines local optimization with automated optimization and trading in energy and ancillary services markets.

This is an important distinction. Today’s energy market is complex and constantly changing. Prices, available capacity, local consumption and opportunities across different markets vary from hour to hour. Maximizing profitability therefore requires continuous analysis of large amounts of information and decisions based on where each resource creates the greatest value.

Aire’s Multi-Market Optimization (MMO) automates this entire process.

The platform forecasts generation, consumption, available flexibility, market prices and potential revenue streams. These forecasts determine how resources should be used and how available flexibility should be allocated between local needs and different energy markets.

The entire process is automated, from forecasting and optimization to trading, activation and physical control of the resources.

Profitability-driven multi-market optimization

Profitability is at the heart of Aire’s optimization logic. The value of an energy resource changes over time and across different uses.

At one point, a battery may create the greatest value by reducing a power demand peak on site. A few hours later, the same capacity may be more valuable in the day-ahead, intraday or ancillary services market. At other times, the battery may need to be reserved for the building’s own needs.

Aire continuously evaluates these options against one another and responds to price signals and changing market conditions. The optimization also accounts for local constraints, power limits, operational requirements and the resources’ technical capabilities.

This allows available flexibility to be automatically allocated where it is expected to create the highest financial value.

Revenue stacking – multiple sources of value from the same resources

Through revenue stacking, the same energy resources can create several types of value over time:

• Lower energy costs and demand charges

• More efficient use of locally generated solar electricity

• Peak shaving and capacity optimization

• Revenue from day-ahead and intraday trading

• Revenue from ancillary services markets

• More efficient use of batteries and charging infrastructure

This means resources do not need to be tied to a single use or market. Instead, they can be deployed dynamically according to where they create the greatest value at any given time.

The result is more than automated energy management: it is automated profitability optimization.

Coordinated optimization across the entire site

The Nāst project demonstrates the potential of treating a building’s energy resources as an interconnected, flexible portfolio.

Solar panels generate electricity locally. Batteries store energy and shift its use over time. Charging infrastructure represents a substantial but controllable load. With Vehicle-to-Grid, parked EVs could also provide additional flexibility and power in the future.

Aire coordinates the entire site rather than optimizing each resource separately. The platform continuously balances two perspectives: what the site needs and where the resources create the greatest financial value.

This combines lower costs, more efficient use of capacity and new revenue streams, while the site’s technical and operational conditions always define the boundaries of the optimization.

An optimization platform for Buddy Energy’s property projects

For Buddy Energy, the partnership combines its overall responsibility for the energy infrastructure with Aire’s specialized platform for site and multi-market optimization.

This creates a scalable solution for commercial properties where several energy resources need to be coordinated, serving local needs while also creating value in energy markets.

“We saw that the software Aire has developed and continues to develop is very well suited to our need for behind-the-meter optimization. We see Aire as a forward-thinking partner who values partnerships just as we do,” says Per-Henrik Persson, CEO of Buddy Energy.

Are you developing energy solutions for commercial properties?

Aire helps energy asset owners, property owners and other stakeholders take the next step from local energy management to automated site and multi-market optimization.

By combining forecasting, local optimization, energy trading and physical control in one platform, energy resources can continually be used where they create the greatest value.

From forecasting to trading and control – automated and optimized for profitability.

Contact us to explore how your energy resources can reduce costs, unlock flexibility and create new revenue opportunities.