Project Overview
The Central Plant is a key State asset that provides chilled water for cooling, steam for heating and compressed air for controls to 23 existing State-owned buildings in the Capitol area (campus). The new plant will eliminate the water discharge into the Sacramento River by utilizing cooling towers.  The size and acoustics of the cooling tower have a major impact on the siting and plant operations.

The project includes a thermal energy storage tank that mitigates the noise through not having to operate the cooling towers during sensitive times of the day.  In addition, the thermal energy storage tank reduces the electrical costs by reducing the chiller electrical load during peak conditions.

The heating and cooling capacity will be increased to match existing loads and future loads.  This will allow for more reliable and efficient heating and cooling.  In addition, steam-turbine distributed generation will be utilized to minimize the impact on the downtown electrical infrastructure.