Chicago District Cooling

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Chicago District Cooling

With 90,000+ tons from four plants, Exelon Thermal’s Chicago district cooling system is the largest in the world, and it all started in 1995 when plant #1, State & Adams, started commercial operation. The plant cooling output is 21,800 tons and has 66,000 ton-hrs of ice thermal storage. Located in the center of downtown, the State & Adams plant was efficiently fitted into a building whose ground floor was dedicated to retail space. The plant supplies 34°F water to heat exchangers located in customer buildings. Prior to construction, FVB Energy Inc. helped assess the Chicago market potential and develop the concept design. To reduce annual operating costs, each plant is designed with ice thermal storage capability.

Technologies
• District cooling. The district cooling system is capable of delivering over 90,000 tons of cooling and has ice thermal storage at each of the four production plants.
• Ice thermal energy storage. The peak power demand load shifting allows Exelon to reduce operating costs by 46%.
Customers
• Commercial buildings
• Government buildings
FVB Energy, Inc. Services
FVB Energy provided many types of services to make this project successful, including:
• Market assessment and feasibility analysis
• Conceptual design of district cooling system including plant, distribution, and customer connections
• Financial analysis and rate structure development
• Hydraulic modeling and thermal storage analysis
• Development of Owner’s Requirements Documents providing detailed requirements for the plant, piping and end-user systems
• Marketing and sales guidance and support including preparation of marketing communications plan, newsletters and special communication notices
• Strategic business planning and implementation assistance