Site Plan
	Artist's Rendering
	View From Mullins Center Plaza

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 (*see "Special Warnings, Closures, Advisories" below).

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.

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.

Visit MassTraveler.com for live video feeds of the Mullins Center/Commonwealth Avenue construction area.

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

Large earth-moving equipment will be in use at the site, entering and exiting Mullins Way. Anyone using Parking Lot 67 directly behind (west) of Mullins Center should take extra care when traversing Mullins Way. Some short delays are possible when the street is temporarily blocked to move equipment.

CAMPUS CENTER WAY IS CLOSED UNTIL DECEMBER 31

Access to Campus Center Way from Commonwealth Avenue will be CLOSED as of April 3 to allow for steam line installation across Commonwealth Avenue. The entrance to Campus Center Way is expected to remain closed until December 31, 2006. Click the map, right, to enlarge a map of the area and detour routes. It is also available HERE in printable PDF format.

Access To The Campus Garage

The Campus Center Garage will remain open and accessible; deliveries to the Power Plant and lower Garage via the Power Plant Access Road, as well as permit-holder access to the lower Garage, will continue uninterrupted. Click HERE for detour information.