The windy city

To interface electrically with the building, each nacelle has a 225kW nominally-rated, 400V, four-pole induction, 50Hz asynchronous generator that is connected to a generator control panel inside each tower. From the control panels, separate low voltage (lv) feeders connect to the interfaces on the main lv switchboard at three substations which supply electricity to the landlord areas of the development.

"The length of the lv feeders from the generator control panels to the building electrical system interface points required careful study in order to avoid excessive voltage drop and to ensure there were no problems with harmonics and voltage disturbances," explains LytheRao.The generators are designed to start and run in an asynchronous mode in parallel with the mains electrical grid. In an outage or reduction in voltage or frequency from the power supply the turbines will be shut down.

The main plant is located in basement and ground levels and on service floors at levels 5, 25 and 39 within the towers. A new 11kV intake substation has been constructed for the development. Primary chilled water is being provided to basement-level plate heat exchangers by district cooling firm Tabreed; secondary chilled water is pumped from here to fan coil units (fcu) and air handling units (ahu) throughout the towers. "The secondary chilled water system is based on variable flow utilising modulating and on/off two-port control valves at the ahu and fcu with variable speed primary pumps," elaborates LyntheRao.

In addition to the wind turbines the building includes a number of features intended to reduce its carbon footprint. These include significant shading on the external glass facades; openable windows to allow mixed-mode operation in winter; thermal buffer zones between the outside and the air conditioned spaces; heat recovery; grey water recycling; and solar powered road and amenity lighting.

Construction of the BWTC began in June 2004, with substantial completion scheduled for the end of 2007. And following the success of the project, the concept of large-scale turbine integration in buildings is already being taken up on further developments. Atkins has been commissioned to design a 400m-high tower in Dubai which includes the technology as well as photovoltaics. Ramboll and Norwin is also currently engaged with a project in London, UK, where three smaller wind turbines will be installed at the top of the residential building Castle House.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM