Design & Construct

New Central Utility Plant

Challenge

  • Flood waters destroyed the facility’s electrical infrastructure causing complete shut down and evacuation.
  • Equipment was 30 and 50 years old to begin with, causing maintenance to struggle with upkeep.

New Central Utility Plant (CUP) built for a Kentucky hospital after a detrimental basement flood shut down the facility’s electrical system, telephone and computer communication lines, air conditioning and hot water leading to evacuation of patients and staff.

Solution

  • Installed rental equipment to open up operations at the hospital within two weeks.
  • Build a two-story, 16,600 square footage Central Utilities Plant (CUP) 42 inches above existing finish grade level to mitigate risks of future flooding.
  • Build a flood wall for additional protection against flood.
  • Replaced old and damaged equipment with a new plant as a permanent source of steam, chilled water, hot water and back-up power.

Results

  • Annual energy savings of approximately $300,000.
  • The healthcare facility is now safe, comfortable and energy-efficient with little risk of system failure due to flood.
  • The CUP building includes several sustainability measures and energy conservation systems:
    • Chilled Water System – 40% more efficient than previous system
    • Steam System – Recovers hot gas from the boiler to preheat water for free
    • Hot Water System – Transfers heat removed from chilled water system to the hot water system providing immediate energy savings
    • Emergency Power System – Ensures 100% redundancy in the event of an outage
    • Second Floor Offices – New space for the engineering team to reduce environmental footprint
    • Tracer Summit System – Real-time and live energy monitoring and control to regulate energy use

24/7  real-time energy efficiency decisions

40% Increased efficiency of chilled water system

– $300,000 Annual energy savings

– 100% Redundancy for Emergency Power System

The heat recovery system recommended by Harshaw Trane provides immediate energy savings by transferring the heat removed from the chilled water system to the hot water system.