DISTRICT ENERGY PLANT OFFICIALLY OPEN
Mayor Purcell Leads Celebration Six Months Earlier Than Expected
January 26, 2004
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Metro Nashville District Energy System (DES), which has replaced the Nashville Thermal Transfer Plant as the heating and cooling provider for 40 downtown buildings, was officially opened today by Mayor Bill Purcell and other city officials.
The $48.3 million DES facility, which was projected to be completed in July 2004, has actually been fully operational since mid-December, when Metro began testing the DES and transitioning from Thermal.
“It’s remarkable to have completed construction seven months ahead of schedule, and our team deserves a great deal of credit for their accomplishment,” said Mayor Bill Purcell, who presided at the grand opening ceremony. “Today we celebrate the opening of our new district energy facility that will serve as a true catalyst for downtown economic development.”
The mayor was joined at the grand opening event by Greg Jarosinski, president and CEO of Constellation Energy Source, the Baltimore, Md.-based company contracted to design, build and operate the DES facility. Also attending were
David Manning, Metro Director of Finance;
Kent Cleaver, president of Nashville Thermal Transfer Corp. and executive vice president/ director of commercial banking, Union Planters Bank, who represented DES customers at the event;
Harvey Gershman, Metro’s project administrator and DES project manager and principal with Gershman, Brickner & Bratton, Inc., a Fairfax, Va.-based waste management consulting firm;
John Schaffer, recently appointed Metro DES general manager by Constellation Energy Source, and
Tom Jurkovich, Metro Director of Economic and Community Development.
Metro will maintain ownership of the DES, which sits directly south of the old Thermal plant, across from the soon-to-be-completed Gateway Boulevard at Hermitage Avenue and Peabody Street.
Several local firms were instrumental in the development of the new DES, including Nashville Machine Company (mechanical contractor), R.C. Mathews (general contractor), Smith Seckman Reid (design engineer), Everton Oglesby Askew (architect) and Travis Electric (electrical contractor).
A New Chapter in District Energy
The Nashville Thermal Transfer Corporation provided downtown buildings with heating and cooling for 30 years as a waste-to-energy facility until May 2002, when a fire at the plant caused Metro to close the garbage burning area. At that time, Metro hired Constellation, which operated the plant without major interruption until the new DES facility was functional. There were at one time 80 Thermal employees. DES employs 24 people, 19 of whom came from Thermal.
“We are tremendously proud of our team’s effort on this project,” said Jarosinski. “Under the leadership of Joe Cranston, senior vice president of development for CES, and John Schaffer at the facility in Nashville, our team not only built a state-of-the-art facility, but worked with the Thermal employees to actually increase the interim efficiency and reliability of the old plant. This coordinated effort has resulted in a seamless transition for the DES customers. We look forward to partnering with Metro Nashville for years to come.”
The existing Thermal Transfer plant will soon be demolished to make way for riverfront redevelopment.
DES is projected to save Metro nearly $67 million in its first 10 years of operation. Lower electricity costs, greater fuel efficiency and more environmentally friendly operating standards are just a few of its perks. The plant operates nine chillers and four boilers, which have the capacity to produce 20,800 tons of cooling and 260,000 lbs of steam heat per hour to heat and cool many more buildings than the old system. DES, which is a fraction of the size of the Thermal plant and much more aesthetically pleasing, is fueled by natural gas and electricity.
The DES facility has cost taxpayers nothing. The construction was fully funded by project revenue bonds sold by Metro and operations will be supported by the sale of chilled water and steam to its customers, who should experience a 10 percent savings over their heating and cooling alternatives.