August 31, 2009—The California Department of General Services has announced the opening of the new Central Plant that heats and cools the Capitol building and 22 state office buildings daily. The 78,000-square-foot . facility is the largest of its kind in the western U.S. and will operate on 90 percent less water than its predecessor, according to officials.
The new plant’s progressive “green” design will help the state reduce energy costs, cut water usage, and provide better reliability to state buildings. The plant will also help launch an effort to reduce energy consumption in all Sacramento state office buildings in coming years.
In less than two years, more than 300 local construction workers built the state-of-the-art facility in the heart of downtown Sacramento. The design of the seven-story plant allows enormous chillers, pumps, and boilers churning inside to be nearly silent to the neighbors living across the street. It is expected to achieve the Leadership in Energy Efficiency and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2010.
Each day, the plant provides the steam and chilled water to heat and cool more than 5.5 million square feet of office space in state-owned buildings throughout the downtown core. The old plant, built in 1968, had long since reached its operating capacity. Demolition of the old plant will begin in October and will include the recycling of much of the demolition material.
Among the latest technological advances incorporated in the new plant, cooling towers release heat pulled from state buildings and reuse the water that goes through the plant. Besides using more than 95 percent less water than the old plant, the new plant can operate off the electrical grid during an emergency. A second phase of the project will include construction of a 140-foot-tall, 4.25 million gallon thermal energy storage tank to store reserves of necessary chilled water produced during off-peak energy demand times for use during the heat of the day. Solar panels will also be installed on the new facility to power the energy needs of the office space within it.
