CHP Plant Heat Expansion

Erdman Anthony provided professional mechanical and electrical design services to expand the thermal output system from the existing combined heat and power (CHP) facility at Hudson Valley Community College to two additional buildings on campus.

The thermal output from the CHP plant supplied hot water to campus buildings for heating and cooling, but all of the available thermal energy produced by the plant was not being fully utilized. Erdman Anthony was tasked with expanding the hot-water distribution system to include Hudson Hall and Siek Campus Center.

The project included hydraulic design to extend the existing hot-water system, as well as site routing, adding two new loops to feed Hudson Hall and Siek Campus Center, and extending electrical power to the various pumps and to the controls of the new pumping and temperature-regulation systems.

Preliminary design also included review of a prior study and of the original design concept. Erdman Anthony suggested a change in the piping route that reduced the length and the installation difficulty, saving the project approximately $100,000.

Our firm also provided professional electrical and civil design services to reconnect the campus to the public electric utility.

A secure, dependable, and automated back-up power source to the campus was lacking because most of it was powered exclusively from the cogen plant, after being disconnected from the utility grid in 2004. The connection back to the public electric utility reduced overall maintenance and operating costs at the cogen plant, eliminated brownouts and blackouts, and allowed the college to purchase electrical power at favorable market rates.

Erdman Anthony also served as the college’s technical liaison to the public electric utility.

In addition to improving the reliability and frequency stability of the campus system, the project realized operating cost savings (primarily resulting from increased efficiency of the cogen engines) and maintenance cost savings, which ultimately resulted in an appreciable cost payback.