News

Plant conversion saves energy

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Matthew Hubby
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  The winters at Dover Air Force Base, Del., have been known to be harsh. Luckily for about the last 60 years Team Dover members have received heating from a centralized heat plant. This plant provided heating and hot water to more than 70 base facilities during its tenure. Now, in an effort to exceed Air Force energy mandates, the plant is being decentralized.

"The centralized facility is no longer economical to run," said April Stewart, energy manager with the 436th Civil Engineer Squadron. "It is old and inefficient, and the decentralization will save us on operation and maintenance costs."

The plant, which was built in the 1950's, burned oil to heat water to about 300 degrees, which was then pressurized to 200 pounds per square inch. It was then pumped to the facilities through underground pipelines. Once the heated water reached the facility, it passed through a heat exchanger to heat and was then pumped back to the heat plant to start the processes anew.

By replacing the current mechanical equipment with natural gas fired boilers and electric water heaters, the heat plant decentralization project is estimated to save about $2 million a year by reducing energy use by more than 15 percent per year. All new building projects on base are also having new boilers installed - so no new specialized training will be required.

"The Air Force has mandated a 3 percent cut in its energy use a year," said Stewart. "The heat plant decentralization project ensures Dover AFB will exceed the Air Force mandate of not only 3 percent yearly, but also the overall goal of 30 percent by 2015."

The project not only saves money through energy consumption, but it also replaces another proposed program. The energy savings performance contract was estimated to cost about $95 million, while the heat plant decentralization project was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for $24 million, leading to a savings of $71 million.

"The hardest part of this project is converting so many facilities in such a short amount of time," said Jo Anne Deramo, a project engineer with the 436th. "The project is the equivalent of doing 68 separate mechanical system projects in the span of two years. We also had to ensure these facilities still had heat during the winter while we work on converting them over."

The project is scheduled to be completed December 2012, and will recover its funding cost in 12 years.