Demonstration of Embedded Commissioning to Guarantee Operational Energy Performance

The Xpole building project, a 27,000 m² tertiary office use, is the result of Schneider Electric’s ambitious initiative to achieve the target of 20 kWh/m².an of final energy consumption for the building’s scope of consumption excluding specific uses. This positive energy balance building consumes 36 kWh/m².an in final energy, all items fully compensated by a 900 kW photovoltaic power plant.

The building is LEED Platinum certified, with an exceptional score of 96 points, mainly thanks to commissioning.
This specific commissioning approach was based on modelling and dynamic energy simulations to adapt the design in order to achieve the consumption target.
Risk analysis then guided the implementation of preventive measures as part of the commissioning process, in areas such as the quality of the enclosure and the optimization and fine-tuning of technical equipment.

Once the building had been handed over and was in operation, energy monitoring over 2 years was coupled with the recalibration of the dynamic energy model with the measurement data files for an objective assessment of the energy performance achieved.
As part of this, rigorous automated verification of the systems’ operational compliance was introduced and continues to this day to assist the Facility Manager.