Rebates Bring Expensive Efficiency Improvement Projects to Reality

As a campus with state-of-the-art research facilities and a large student body, this Manhattan-based Ivy League institution requires extensive cooling. The large cooling load incurs high utility bills, particularly high peak demand costs during the summertime. EN-POWER GROUP was engaged to identify energy efficiency and demand reduction strategies for the campus’s central chiller plants. The selected strategy not only successfully qualified for over $1 million in rebates, but continues to save the school almost $800,000 in utility costs each year.

The university’s main campus has large cooling requirements due to the year-round computing, laboratory, and classroom demands within its thirty-four (34) buildings. To combat increasing cooling costs, EN-POWER GROUP was engaged to identify methods of realistically reducing cooling costs despite the university’s projected load growth. Following a thorough feasibility study of the existing equipment and energy usage, EN-POWER GROUP recommended consolidating chilled water production to one plant and retiring inefficient equipment by installing a hybrid chilled water plant, which primarily consists of a 2,800-ton electric chiller with variable frequency drives and a 2,800-ton steam-driven chiller. EN-POWER GROUP designed the sequence of operation to optimize demand and electricity savings.

EN-POWER GROUP created and implemented a comprehensive rebate application plan that incorporated funding from four distinct programs. The project successfully received funding from the NYISO Installed Capacity/Special Case Resources (ICAP/SCR) Program, the NYSERDA Existing Facilities Program, the NYSERDA Peak Load Management Program (PLMP), and the NYSERDA Enhanced Commercial and Industrial Performance Program (ECIPP).