Electrical Feeder Project

The Physical Plant Utilities Department , working with the Facililites and Campus Planning Division has begun planning to replace six 13,800 volt electrical feeders across the campus. These medium voltage feeders distribute electricity to most campus buildings. The existing feeders are past their life expectancy.
Replacement of the six medium voltage feeders will require all power to selected areas of campus to be shut off during the change over process. On Tuesday May 24th electrical feeder replacement work will begin at Berkshire Dining Hall, Cance, Pierpont , Moore. Shut down will begin at 6:00 A. M. and end at 9:00 P.M. Be advised that all electrical power will be off to these areas. We strongly advise that you shut down all computers and sensitive equipment at the end of the workday on Monday May 23rd.During this project Physical Plant personnel will work hand in hand with the contractors and the campus constituents to minimize disruption. An updated list of buildings, dates and shut down duration can be seen on our Physical Plant Web Page (www.facil.umass.edu) .Shut down notices will be sent in advance to designated areas on campus where the medium voltage feeder replacement project work will be starting.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this project and how it may effect you or your department, please contact Raymond Jackson, Assistant Director of Utilities at 545-0605

A dedicated site has been set up for further information on the Electrical Feeder Project and can be found here.

New Central Heating Plant

The new 75,000 square foot Central Heating Plant (CHP) is being designed and built by the University of Massachusetts Building Authority. The CHP 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 400 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 include a combined cycle system comprised of ‘topping’ and ‘bottoming’ steam turbines, in addition to its combined heat and power process systems. When completed, the CHP will utilize advanced technologies, while meeting 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 cogeneration 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-designed building by Vanderweil Engineers, Boston, and Cambridge Seven Architects, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its power process systems include a 10 mw Solar 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. Four package boilers, each rated at 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 sy stem 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 March 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. Due to soft underlying clays, the site was pre-loaded with 160,000 tons of gravel fill during the Spring of 2003, raising site elevations by fourteen feet. The site is expected to settle up to two feet by the time construction is scheduled to start. Pre-loading the site and completing the project with spread footings was done to avoid the more expensive option of pile-supported foundations. Construction documents are expected to let for bid by June 2005. 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 General Contractor 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. Commissioning and acceptance testing of the CHP will be completed by March 2008.

A dedicated site has been set up for further information on the New Central Heating Plant Project and can be found here.