The fourth-generation, owner-managed family business has come a long way from its humble origins as a locksmith shop in Bavaria a century ago. With 16 branches and over 1,700 employees across Germany, today BAUER is synonymous with the highest standards in electrical engineering and renowned for its innovation, quality, and customer service across the country.
BAUER supports building owners with tailor-made electrical solutions, from power supply right through to building automation. Its building projects range from hospitals to office buildings and public facilities, bringing both the practical expertise and vision to forge the best overall solution from the range of technical systems for each unique project.
“We’re continually evaluating new automation technologies to best meet the current and future needs of our customers. This also applies to our own facilities where our goal is to use both the generated and the consumed electrical energy in the most efficient and cost-conscious way,” explains Franz Bauer, Managing Director, BAUER Elektroanlagen.
BAUER’s own project in the heart of Berlin's Silicon Valley
Starting as a service branch with a handful of employees, BAUER’s Berlin workforce grew to more than 150 by 2020.
When choosing a location for its growing Berlin operations, BAUER opted for Adlershof, the capital's ‘Silicon Valley’, for its new building, where the demand for building services of all kinds is booming, along with demand for high-quality office space.
BAUER designed its new building campus, which would house its own operations and incorporate offices to lease, to be energy self-sufficient, and to automatically feed surplus photovoltaic power into charging stations for electric vehicles. All control systems are based on open standards for intelligent building automation.
As soon as the foundation stone was laid for the extension, several prospective tenants came forward looking for prime space on the Adlershof campus. With a good 4,000 square meters of usable space, there are various possible combinations of owner-occupation and letting.
BAUER opted for ABB Cylon® solutions for the control technology networking in the new building complex, with Franz Bauer explaining, “The cost-effectiveness of the ABB solutions proved to be marketable in the tendering process. Added to this was the extremely wide range of protocols, which enabled us to integrate various components from different manufacturers quickly and with little effort.
“Thanks to open standard protocols, we kept the option open of connecting the existing ventilation technology from the main building to the new system, in order to save on investment”, explains Carsten Burggraf, Team leader Electrical Engineering at BAUER Elektroanlagen.
ABB Cylon® solutions 
ABB Cylon® solutions 
ABB Cylon® solutions
Future-proof and sustainable energy savings
At the heart of the automation in the new BAUER building are solutions from ABB’s comprehensive Cylon® BACnet portfolio.
The controllers connect various heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to form an integrated energy management platform, regardless of the manufacturer. With this seamlessly integrated solution, BAUER can keep an eye on the consumption data of electricity, gas, water, and heat meters at all times.
All record values and the processed results are analyzed and presented in an intuitive, visual web interface. Potential energy wasters can be identified immediately so that BAUER Elektroanlagen can initiate appropriate optimization measures without delay. Incidentally, installation and commissioning in the new building in Adlershof was intuitive thanks to the smooth interoperability of the systems.
PV system 
Blind control with ABB i-bus® KNX 
ABB Tenton® KNX room control sensor
Intelligent heat control
“As a system provider, ABB offers the full spectrum of building automation solutions. In this project, in addition to the BACnet-based HVAC control, room automation was also implemented using KNX for optimum lighting and climate conditions with minimal energy consumption. Lighting and shading systems, as well as room operation, can be optimally networked with the ABB Tenton® KNX room control sensor and the ABB Cylon® platform. This adds significant value to the functionality of the building. Connection to the ABB Cylon® Aspect building management system has also already been planned,” says Henry Kohl, Product Marketing Manager at ABB.
“The integration of relevant devices with the support of many protocols was very intuitive, including the connection between the BACnet and KNX system, unlocking more optimization and energy savings potential”, adds BAUER’s Carsten Burggraf.
“Building Automation technology is increasingly seen as a component of a complete electrical engineering solution, including within our building. Our objective is to optimize both consumed and generated energy efficiently. With ABB as our trusted partner, we are continuously advancing our efforts to enhance energy savings”, concluded Franz Bauer.
