Awarded $4.1 Million Contract for On-site Power System at Equity Office's 717 5th Ave. Office Building in Manhattan. It is the first system to be synchronously interconnected to Midtown utility grid with ConEd.
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WAITSFIELD, Vt., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Northern Power Systems, a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp (Nasdaq: DESC - News), has been awarded a $4.1 million contract for a 1.6 MW on-site combine heat and power (CHP) system at 717 5th Avenue in New York City. Located on 5th Avenue at 56th Street, the Class-A office building is managed, owned and leased by Equity Office.
The project will represent the first system of its kind to be synchronously interconnected to the critical midtown network grid of utility provider Con Edison. The system will handle 60% of the 450,000-square-foot building's electric usage, and 65% of its cooling and heating needs. The project is supported by a $745,000 grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
"Similar to the projects that we have partnered with Northern Power Systems in California, this project's energy savings, reliability and economics will provide the building with improved power reliability, cleaner electric power, below market energy rates and back-up power for customers throughout the building," said Thomas W. Smith of Equity Office. "Furthermore, the NYSERDA grant was instrumental to ensure that we stayed within our financial objectives for the project."
Designed and built by Northern on a turnkey basis, the system will generate electric power during on- and mid-peak hours, and provide chilled water in the summer and hot water in the winter. It is sized to provide nearly two-thirds of the building's peak summer electric demand. In addition, the new system is capable of providing additional backup power in the event of a blackout, in conjunction with the building's existing diesel generator, which covers fire and life safety systems. Whenever the system operates, the building remains connected to Con Edison, running in parallel operation with their grid.
By capturing the waste heat from the engine generators and using it to drive both heating and cooling systems for the building, the system is expected to achieve a combined efficiency of over 73%, more than double the efficiency of power supplied by the grid. The higher efficiency of the on-site power system translates into significant energy cost savings and an attractive return on investment for Equity Office. At the same time, the higher efficiency will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Though its primary function is to increase the building's efficiency, the system can also provide backup power capable of keeping the building operational during an extended power outage, such as the one experienced by tenants during the August 2003 blackout.
Supporting Goals of Equity Office and NYSERDA
"The benefits of this system are a great value-add for our existing customers," said Don Huffner, senior vice president of Equity Office's New York Region. "Our goal is to leverage the economies this system will provide to further position 717 Fifth competitively among other Midtown office buildings when recruiting prospective new customers."
In addition, the 717 5th Avenue project directly supports NYSERDA's goals of improving grid reliability, improving overall energy efficiency and reducing energy costs to promote economic expansion.
"We believe that the 717 5th Avenue project will serve as an outstanding example to similar facilities that a successful interconnection of on-site generating assets with the local network grid is possible and that such projects will have a positive impact on relieving some of the load currently straining the grid," said Peter R. Smith, President of NYSERDA. "In addition, such projects hold the promise of benefiting the environment through dramatically improved energy efficiency."
Walter "Chip" Schroeder, President of Distributed Energy Systems Corp., commenting on the support from NYSERDA, explained, "The financial support from NYSERDA helps us offset some of the non-recurring engineering costs associated with this breakthrough project. This means that our design and engineering costs will be lower on many similar Distributed Generation project opportunities that we have identified in New York, thereby improving their commercial value."
Project Propels New Northern New York/New Jersey Satellite Office
The 717 5th Avenue system represents the first project developed by Northern's new field office in New Jersey. As was the case when Northern's West Coast office was opened three years ago to address the growing on-site power needs in California, the East Coast office will bring Northern's 30 years of distributed generation expertise to the New York metropolitan area, providing businesses in this constrained transmission and distribution area with a leading resource for new and innovative power solutions. The new full- service office includes sales, engineering, project management, and maintenance personnel, and is led by Chris Wissemann, a 20-year energy industry veteran whose experience includes the development of Distributed Generation projects, energy efficiency, commodities management, and operations and maintenance.
"This is a very exciting development for Northern," said Clint "Jito" Coleman, president of Northern Power Systems. "As evidenced by Con Edison's support of the interconnect, there is significant state-level support for the expansion of distributed generation in New York-likewise, in New Jersey and Connecticut. Having a home base in this area means Northern can provide the highest quality and most responsive customer service to local clients. In addition, it puts us in a strong competitive position to better identify and pursue other new business opportunities," Coleman added.
System Details
The state-of-the-art CHP system consists of two 820 kW lean burn generator sets, heat exchangers, and a 289-ton hot water absorber, all housed in a sound-attenuated enclosure.
The turnkey CHP system will be installed on an open setback roof atop the low-rise portion of the building. The generators will tie into the two main building electrical services. Hot water from the system's heat exchangers will tie into the building perimeter heating loop, while the output from the absorption chiller will tie in directly to the chilled water system.
According to Amir Yanni, project manager for Northern Power Systems, the system will be no louder than the existing cooling towers. "In addition to the housing enclosure, the system is mounted on steel dunnage that incorporates vibration isolators to ensure that the system does not disturb tenants." |
