The Architect retained by the LA Department of Water and Power (DWP) to design their new office building/Data Center had their Mechanical Engineer in place and a nearly completed design when the Principals of our firm  were retained by the DWP to be their Mechanical System Architect, evaluate the system, and redesign it as required, working with the Architects team.

The original design had two 750 ton chillers dedicated to the data center, and three 1250 ton chillers dedicated to the office tower, there were no interconnections between the two chilled water systems.  In addition to the large chiller systems, there was approximately 6 MW of electric boilers installed to heat the office portion of the facility.

After our evaluation and redesign, the two chilled water loops were interconnected, the chiller capacity was reduced by 40%, chilled water based Thermal Energy Storage (TES) was installed, the chilled water system temperature differential was doubled from 12°F to 25°F,  a centrifugal heat-pump chiller was used to take heat out of the data center and TES system and heat the building through the use of a hot water TES system.  The electric boiler capacity was reduced by over 70%, and relegated to standby duty.

As with all data centers, the cooling system must have 100% uptime, year-round.

The TES system and alternate design strategies reduced energy consumption by approximately 23%, while reducing peak electrical demand by approximately 2.5 MW during the summer, and over 5MW during the winter.

5757 Wilshire | (CA) Department of Justice Headquarters Facility | Dennis Thurman
California Hotels | LA Department of Water and Power Computer Operations Facility