As a part of the University’s initiative to reduce energy costs and increase conservation the Cates Avenue Steam Plant will face massive renovations later this year.
The building, which was constructed in 2004, will be the next stop of a series of energy-efficient endeavors the Sustainability and Facilities offices are undertaking.
The project will span three phases, and include removing one boiler from the Cates plant, replacing it with two combustion turbine engines and then a replacement of a second boiler in the Yarbrough steam plant.
In the Cates Ave. plant, one fuel-burning boiler will be removed and replaced with the two turbines with heat recovery steam generators. The current boilers have exceeded their recommended useful life cycle, and the new steam generators are capable of producing 50,000 pounds of steam per hour, as opposed to the current fuel-burning boilers.
Facilities said they expect the new generators to be running by May of next year, according to Jack Colby, assistant vice-chancellor for facilities operations.
“There are three aspects to this project. The renovations will begin this February, and the start-up and commissioning of the generators will begin next May. The third phase will be in the Yarbrough steam plant and will include the installation of 3 100,000 pound-steam-per-hour boilers,” Colby said. “Work will start in the spring of 2012 for that part and finish in its entirety in the spring of 2013.”
The result of these renovations and installations will increase overall system energy efficiency to over 72.6 percent by converting to a combined heat and power system. That will lead to a greenhouse gas emission reduction of at least 15 percent, according to Kevin MacNaughton, associate vice chancellor for facilities.
“This operation will make it the first heat/power plant of its kind on the premises. It is a huge undertaking to modify our plant and [N.C. State] Facilities staff has innovatively figured out a way to make it happen,” MacNaughton said.
But that’s not the only benefit, according to Colby.
“While lowering cost of utilities for campus is a given advantage, there is a side benefit in that if we should we lose power from Progress Energy, we’ll have one third of our electrical power needs met by this plant,” Colby said.
These combustion engines will provide heating and air conditioning for one third of campus, and MacNaughton said this project will increase the University’s green rankings.
“This project is a hugely beneficial project for our campus. It will reduce our energy consumption in a more substantial way than any other single effort while not only maintaining our level of service but improving it, and we will have newer and more efficient boilers as well as the ability to produce about one-third to one-half of our electric demand by simply using the otherwise wasted energy from our year-round steam generation,” MacNaughton said.
Lowering costs and reducing emissions are positive aspects of any project, but when it comes to cost, an undertaking on this scale is never cheap. However, this project, a $61 million endeavor, is not being paid for by students or taxpayers. Falling under the category of a “performance contract,” a rising trend in the construction industry where the third party contractor assumes the cost.
According to David Dean, sustainability outreach coordinator, a performance contract is a recently approved type of construction for the UNC system.
“In the state’s past legislative summer session they approved UNC system schools using this form so they can keep the money they save from improving energy efficiency on their campuses. Sixty percent of savings they create from energy efficient projects now goes back to the school. Previously all the money they generated had to go back to the state, so there was no incentive. The state still gets 40 percent but that’s better than it used to be,” Dean said.
By finding ways to save energy and, in turn, save money, this provision of state law encourages universities to improve their campuses. However, there are a couple of stipulations. The 60 percent saved can only be used to fund more energy conservation measures. These future conservation projects cannot need any additional funding from the state, either the savings pay for project in total or the University would need to make up the difference.
For a project that has been in the works since 1999, Dean says the last four years have been heavy on planning.
“Once we knew we needed to focus on this idea, we had to figure out a way to pay for it,” Dean said.” That’s where performance contracting has been great.”
In a performance contract a contractor is hired to assess projected positives for a proposal, in this case possible energy savings and improvements. After understanding where improvements are needed, an energy services company is chosen to oversee the project. Ameresco is the national corporation in charge of this project, and they were responsible for finding a local general contractor to do the actual construction. Ameresco chose New Atlantic Corp. out of Greensboro for the replacing of the boiler system.
To finance this, Ameresco guarantees their chosen contractor will complete the project for a designated amount. In turn, they finance the loan, or $61 million with the Bank of America, and will be paid back by the energy savings each year.
Eventually, the project will pay for itself. The current projection is in 20 years Ameresco will have paid back its loan all from the University’s energy savings.
Following the University motto of, “locally responsible, globally engaged,” benefits will arise not just when balancing the checkbook.
According to Dean, eight full time jobs, (4 University permanent operations and 4 maintenance vendor positions) and 90 short to long term jobs across the state will be created.
Also, Dean said it will create a new way for students to get involved.
“Engineering students can get involved on future performance contracts, running numbers to help project proposals get the go-ahead, all good practice for the job market,” Dean said.
