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Tim
Hestle Named General Manager at Thermal
 Tim
Hestle will be the last general manager of the Nashville
Thermal Transfer Corporation, and his appointment will
close a chapter of downtown Nashville with a bit of
family symmetry.
"Thermal
is kind of a family business for me,” Hestle
said. “My
father was general manager when I started working here
in 1983, and both of my sons have worked for Thermal
at one point in time. I look forward to helping close
this chapter in Nashville's downtown energy services
for both the customers and my family."
Hestle,
who most recently served as operations manager at Thermal,
assumed his new role on September 1. |
Customer
Transition
After
new DES services begin, currently scheduled for December
2003, customers will begin to notice a new look to
their bills for energy services. Constellation Energy
Source, the company contracted by Metro to design,
build and manage the new DES facility, also has the
responsibility for the customer invoice system and
will handle notification and collection of payments.
Customers will soon receive information that will explain
the new invoicing process and provide estimates of
invoices through June 2004.
No
other aspects of service will be affected by the transition
from Thermal to DES, and we will keep customers fully
informed throughout the process.
If
you have any questions, contact DES General Manager
John Schaffer at (615) 742-9562 or Harvey Gershman,
Metro project administrator, at (800) 573-5801. |
Reminder
- Upcoming Service Outage
Reminder
to customers that during the fall you will experience
two outage periods. Steam supply to your building will
be interrupted Oct. 19 through Oct. 21 and chilled
water supply will be interrupted November 22 through
25.
If
you have any questions or concerns, call Chuck Tucker
at Thermal at (615) 244-3150 or Harvey Gershman, Metro
project administrator, at (800) 573-5801. |
Gary
Crawford and Crawford Masonry Contractors are commended
for the outstanding job they’ve done on the brickwork
of the new DES facility. |
The
new DES facility will have the capacity to heat and
cool many times the number of buildings Thermal could,
and its engineers have planned ahead by installing
pipes ready to connect additional customers west of
First Avenue and south of Broadway. |
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While
customers may not actually see the boilers and chillers
installed in the new DES facility, they will directly
benefit from the increased capacity, efficiency and
reliability the state-of-the-art equipment will soon
provide.
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Surprise!
We’re Opening Early...
Last
November, when we broke ground to officially begin
construction on the new Metro District Energy System
(DES), we expected the facility to be completed in
July 2004.
Today, construction is virtually finished and plans
are to turn on our new district energy system by early
next year.
The
team of contractors Metro hired to construct the facility
has worked hard to stay ahead of schedule and under
budget. Their diligence is what is allowing us to make
the transition from Thermal to the new energy plant
much sooner than expected.
With
the bricks and mortar in place, the last phase of construction
is to interconnect the existing pipes with the new
DES facility. On October 19 and 20, and again
November 22 through 25, we will shut down service
from Thermal in order to connect the new DES pipes
to the existing infrastructure. Customers will be without
steam supply on October 19 and 20, and without
chilled water service November 22 through 25.
Once
we have interconnected the distribution pipes, we will
begin testing the new system. Thermal will be kept
online and on standby during this initial testing period.
Once the new system is ready for full operations, Constellation
Energy Source and Thermal will switch over services
to the new DES.
With
the construction of the DES facility coming to an end,
Nashville has a lot to look forward to:
- Nashville
will be home to one of the most modern, reliable
district energy systems in the country.
- 40
downtown buildings will have a more efficient and
reliable source for their steam and chilled water
services.
- Those
wanting to construct new buildings downtown will
have a new, state-of-the-art option for their heating
and cooling needs.
- Valuable
riverfront property currently occupied by the Thermal
plant can be cleared and redeveloped.
It's
an exciting time in Nashville. Feel the energy! |
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General
Manager John Schaffer and Mayor Bill Purcell |
Schaffer
Named General Manager for New DES
Former
Nashville Thermal Transfer Corp. Operations Manager
John Schaffer has been appointed general manager of
the Metro Nashville District Energy System (DES).
Schaffer
came to Nashville in May 2002 to manage Thermal, immediately
following a fire that destroyed the plant’s waste-tipping
building. Under Schaffer’s direction,
Thermal resumed operations using temporary boilers
and chillers, and has operated without any major problems
since.
Schaffer’s
25 years of energy service and plant management
experience has included projects for Constellation
Energy Source
and Trigen Energy Baltimore/Trigen-Cinergy Solutions,
LLC. He also worked with Locke Insulators and Domino
Sugars in Baltimore, Md., as an operations engineer
and completed numerous studies in energy plant management
as a machinist while serving four years in the U.S.
Navy.
Schaffer
is a licensed first-class stationary engineer and past
board member of the Association of Energy Engineers.
We
recently sat down with John to get his perspective
on the upcoming transition from Thermal to the nearly
finished DES plant.
view
the Q&A |
A
View from the Bridge
Mayor
Bill Purcell
One
of the most enjoyable events I've participated in
as mayor of Nashville was the opening of the Shelby
Street Bridge over the Cumberland River earlier this
year. The views from this bridge provide a vision
of downtown Nashville’s past, present and future.
To the north sits First Avenue and the row of historic,
brick buildings looking out over the river with the
Courthouse sitting atop the bluff. The skyline is
crowded with the towers of BellSouth, Commerce Center,
and SunTrust. To the south is the old Thermal plant,
which has provided the heating and cooling for these
offices, and behind it sits the new, streamlined
and compact Metro Nashville District Energy System
(DES) facility, which will serve these buildings
and more in the years to come.
Thermal
sits on a large and beautiful piece of property that
will become a jewel of downtown once it is redeveloped,
no matter what is built there. And behind it, the
DES facility occupies a space less than half as large
as Thermal, with the ability to heat and cool many
times the number of buildings Thermal could. Where
Thermal had been a nationally significant, state-of-the-art
facility when it opened almost 30 years ago, the
DES facility will enjoy that same national attention
when it opens in the near future. And thousands of
Nashvillians who live, work and do business in downtown
buildings will be the beneficiaries of this new facility.
Just
to the east of the DES facility, the Gateway Bridge
is nearing completion, offering the promise of development
south of Broadway that will truly transform our downtown.
Just up the hill from DES, Rolling Mill Hill sits
ready to begin that development.
This
view from the bridge emphasizes the promise of the
future. It is an exciting time to be downtown. The
DES construction project is ahead of schedule and
under budget. With our continued effort, we will
truly be able to turn an important corner in Nashville's
history early next year, when we flip the switch
that turns DES on, and allows us to begin reclamation
of the Thermal site. I, for one, look forward to
being there and enjoying the view. |
| Hermitage
Hotel Successfully Reopens with Help of Thermal
Thermal
played an important role in the recent reopening
of the historic Hermitage Hotel.
The
hotel, a downtown landmark since 1910, closed
its doors for 10 months for a $17 million renovation
of its guest rooms, lobby areas, ballrooms and dining
rooms. Those renovations also called for increased
heating and cooling capacity, and the Hermitage chose
to continue using Thermal service for economic, efficiency
and maintenance feasibility. Because district energy
was available, the hotel continued to enjoy significant
space savings during the restoration.
Thermal
integrated with the new building's variable chilled
water flow equipment by providing a delivery system
for seamless operation with the variable frequency
drive pumps and new air handlers to complement the
hotel’s new HVAC system. Hot water is used
for building temperature control during the winter
months, with steam as a heat source, through a building
heat exchanger. Thermal also supplied a new state-of-the-art
metering package that will be cost-effective and
maintenance-free.
“With
the transition to DES so near, we knew that taking
advantage of district energy services was the right
decision,” said John Powers, Hermitage Hotel
engineer. “The hotel’s new heating and
cooling efficiency will complement the millions of
dollars we invested in other upgrades.”
The
heating and cooling overhaul has increased the hotel’s
load from 265 tons/4,000 pounds per hour to 400 tons/7,000
pounds per hour and allows for future expansion of
up to 85 tons of chilled water.
The
Hermitage Hotel reopened on Valentine’s Day
2003. |
Q&A
with John Schaffer, New General Manager for DES
Q. What
were some of your greatest challenges and greatest
accomplishments as general manager at Thermal?
A. When
I took over as operations manager at Thermal after
the fire, my job was to improve the efficiency and
reliability of the plant and to restore Thermal’s
reputation. Since we were making the switch from
burning solid waste to using boilers and chillers,
we were able to re-evaluate our workforce, reduce
the number of employees to 35 and place the right
employees in the right positions.
What
Thermal has been able to accomplish since that time
has been a product of the joint effort made by all
the good people working at Thermal. We quickly were
able to get the plant running more efficiently and
reliably. We refocused our customer service operations
so that a Thermal representative spent time each
month visiting with every customer to ensure that
all of our customers were satisfied with the service
they were receiving. We adopted better safety procedures
and better operating procedures. The end result was
that Thermal reliability increased to 99.9 percent,
we have had no lost time accidents and our customers
are happier with the service we are providing to
them.
Q. What
are your plans for filling the employment openings
at DES?
A. We
have 24 positions to fill at the new facility, and
20 of those jobs will be offered to individuals currently
working for Thermal. After the fire, the Thermal
employees faced a tremendous challenge, and the fact
that Constellation
Energy Source has chosen to bring 20 of those men and
women over to the new DES is a real testament to
the quality of employees at Thermal and the outstanding
abilities that each possesses.
Q. What
are the biggest differences between Thermal and
the new DES?
A. The
first you thing you notice is the appearance. The
new facility is aesthetically pleasing and takes
up less than half the space of Thermal, which has
grown to show its age.
From
an operational standpoint, we are going to see a
tremendous improvement in efficiency. The DES plant
has been designed in such a way that even if a major
piece of equipment fails, the plant will continue
to run with no service interruptions to our customers.
We have all the backup equipment necessary to keep
the plant running on-site. We have two electrical
feeds feeding power to the plant, each one capable
of providing enough voltage to keep the plant up
and running if the other should fail.
Another
major difference between Thermal and DES is the
environmental impact. Burning natural gas to produce
energy is a much more clean and efficient method
than burning solid waste.
Q. What
are some of the challenges you expect to
encounter as general manager for DES?
A. Without
a doubt, the greatest challenge I will encounter
is growing new business. It is always difficult to
sell something new and unfamiliar. However, I’m
confident that we will be successful at increasing
our customer base because of the great working relationship
we have with Metro government and all the people
who are working hard to bring new businesses to Downtown
Nashville. |
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