MASTER PLAN: LONG-RANGE VISION
THERMAL UTILITIES MAIN CAMPUS This Thermal Utilities Plan addresses facilities growth in a logical and compact manner and builds an infrastructure that supports the growth in a resource-efficient way. In general, major piping should be routed adjacent to streets to reduce infrastructure conflict with future building sites and limit the maintenance impact of this infrastructure with paving and trees. Design of distribution piping capacity should anticipate the development densities prescribed in the Master Plan.
LEGEND Hot Water Chilled Water North THERMAL UTILITIES
stage, the construction of a modular Central Utility Plant 1 should be strongly considered to serve the existing and the future planned development loads. The plant would consist of water cooled chillers and matching cooling towers that are modular and “right” sized for the current loads, yet expandable to feed future loads. The full build-out chilled water capacity of Central Utility Plant 1 to serve Zone 1 buildings and early Zone 2 buildings is estimated at 4,500 tons. Similar to the campus cooling system, local condensing boilers at each building are being used for heating hot water in all current construction and are anticipated for the new Science and Technology Building. Each building shall be piped so that it can be fed by a future centralized heating hot water system. Unlike the cooling system, the centralized boiler system will not provide any sort of energy payback to justify the additional pumping equipment and piping cost; however, it will allow the maintenance staff to service the majority of their equipment from one location in addition to possibly reducing the total quantity of boilers by utilizing larger boilers. A central hot water heating plant will also allow the total campus boiler redundancy to be minimized since individual building boiler redundancy will not need to be maintained.
Currently there are no central plants on campus. The existing Madla Building has two (2), 230 Ton, air cooled chillers and two (2), 1.5 MMBH, condensing boilers with total capacity of 3.0 million BTUh that provide the thermal utilities to this building. The Madla Building’s existing air-cooled chillers have approximately 200 Tons of redundant chilled water capacity. Over-sizing of the Madla Building thermal utilities may have been to provide redundant capacity for the Central Academic Building, approximately 185,000 GSF and Patriots’ Casa, approximately 20,000 GSF. The Central Academic Building and Patriots’ Casa are served by two (2), 500 Ton, air cooled chillers and five (5), 1.275 million BTUh, non-condensing, forced draft boilers. The Science and Technology Building is currently in design. It is anticipated that the thermal utilities requirements for the new Science and Technology Building will The University will need to determine which be met by dedicated air cooled chillers and of the following options they would prefer: condensing boilers located adjacent to, or 1. each building maintains its own heating hot water condensing boilers, including within, the building. all existing and new buildings; 2. consolidate production of heating The A&M-SA campus Master Plan proposes hot water for all new buildings from a building two (2) central plants for future central plant, but allow existing buildings campus growth. In order to centralize to continue being fed from local boilers; building maintenance functions and to 3. consolidate production of heating hot provide energy efficient and cost effective water for all buildings from a central thermal utilities to the developing campus, plant, including existing buildings, which Central Utility Plant 1 will be needed would involve the decommissioning of for service to Zone 1 buildings with an the existing local condensing boilers. anticipated final build-out of 1,000,000 GSF. As the campus development grows beyond its current point, the cost effectiveness The full build-out Central Plant 1 condensing of local air cooled chillers will begin to be outweighed by considerations of energy efficiencies and electric utility costs. At this
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-SAN ANTONIO 2017 MASTER PLAN
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