CENTRAL HEATING PLANT  

Project Description  

The new Central Heating Plant will be located adjacent to the Amherst Wastewater Treatment Plant, at the north end of Mullins Way on the west side of Mullins Center.  It will overlook the campus athletic fields  The heating plant will satisfy nearly all of the campus electric and steam demand, representing over 200 buildings and nearly 10 million gross square feet of building space.

The Central Heating Plant will use the latest pollution control technologies including advanced combustion turbine low NOx burners, advanced Selective Catalytic Reduction and Oxidation Catalyst pollution control technologies, it and will sport a combined cycle system comprised of 'topping' and 'bottoming' steam turbines, in addition to its combined heat and power process systems.  When built, it will utilize advanced technologies, some of which are not commercially available today.  It has some of the most stringent air quality permit requirements for a combustion turbine facility of its kind in the United States.  Its combined heat and power applications together with its advanced co-generation systems will result in the highest thermodynamically efficient cycles possible.  Its recycling of municipal wastewater plant effluent for boiler make-up water will reduce the demand for process water on the local public drinking water system (fed by groundwater wells) by 200,000 gallons per day. 

The Central Heating Plant will be housed in an aesthetically-pleasing 45,000 square foot building.  Its power process systems include a 10 mw combustion gas turbine, a heat recovery steam generator, four package boilers, various administrative spaces and auxiliary equipment.  The new CHP will produce 10 million watts of electricity at 13.8 kilovolts for on-campus consumption.  A heat recovery steam generator will use the exhaust heat from the gas turbine to produce steam for campus heating year-round.  Three package boilers, each rated up to 125,000 pounds per hour steam, will provide additional steam capacity to meet campus demand in the spring, fall, and winter months.  Environmental controls include selective catalytic reduction to control the emissions of nitrous oxide, and oxidation catalysts to control carbon monoxide emissions.  Two 20-inch main steam transmission lines will connect the plant to the existing campus distribution system near the west end of the campus parking garage.

Under an energy performance contract, Johnson Controls will install two steam turbine generators, after the project is completed in 2008, further improving the heat rate and energy performance of this facility.  The steam turbines will total 4.5 mw and be fed off of 600 psig and a 200 psig plant steam headers, and exhaust to the campus distribution system at 15 psig.

After commissioning and acceptance testing of the new Central Heating Plant, the current heating plant, stacks, and fuel handling facilities dating back as far as the 1930's, on Campus Center Way, will be demolished. Much of the building demolition debris will be recycled.
 

Project Phasing

The first phase of the project includes design and environmental permitting.  The University of Massachusetts Building Authority, in conjunction with the Amherst campus, has received environmental permits from federal and state regulatory agencies.  In November 2003 the project began its final design phase.  An RFP will be issued in September, 2005 for a Construction Manager-at-Risk.  The Building Authority has bid and pre-selected the vendors for the combustion turbine, HRSG, and package boilers.  The Building Authority will require the successful Construction Manager to hire the appropriate sub-contractors, and to purchase, deliver, and install the major equipment from the selected vendors.  Construction is expected to take approximately two years.  Start-up and commissioning phases will follow construction completion during the winter of 2007/2008.  The plant is expected to be completed with commissioning and acceptance testing by March 2008.

To be added to the list to receive a periodic email newsletter from Facilities & Campus Planning regarding the status of the design, bidding, and construction of the CHP project, send an email request to the Project Manager, John Mathews. 

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