The highest profile project from the department of Sustainability & Energy Management is the new 3 million gallon Thermal Energy Storage Facility. The chilled water tank is located just off Gemini, just East of the Lake Clair community. Parking garage VI is being built adjacent to tank site. The $3 million dollar tank is precast, prestressed, wire wrapped concrete circular tank with a clear span roof. It will be 110' diameter and approximately 42' in depth.

The university currently spends about $14,000,000 a year for the electrical energy to power the campus. About a third of this, or nearly $5,000,000 is used to cool and condition the campus buildings. The Thermal Energy Storage Facility will reduce the cost of cooling the university by taking advantage of the way we purchase electricity.

Unlike your home, the university pays different rates for the power it purchases depending upon the time of the day. Currently, the rate the university pays varies from as low as 7.9 cents per KWH to as high as 14.7 cents per KWH.

A typical scenario would involve the production of chilled water during the nighttime hours, while the lower electric rate is in effect, and then storing the chilled water in the tank for future use. The next morning, during the higher electric rate, chilled water production would be reduced and the tank would be discharged, providing the needed cooling to the campus. By capitalizing on these time-of-use rates, the tank will produce more than $700,000 in annual cost avoidance to the university. The project is scheduled to be complete in fall 2009.