HOUSTON - With energy prices on the rise, San Antonio-based CPS Energy is role-modeling the energy-conserving choices it encourages customers to make - and helping customers benefit as a result. The nation’s largest municipally owned energy company recently turned to HTS Texas to assist in making $666,885 in state-of-the-art, energy-efficient HVAC equipment upgrades at the utility’s main office. In updating its HVAC equipment, CPS Energy is doing its part to help conserve 771 megawatts of power by 2020 and is offering customers rebates for helping them achieve this ambitious goal.

HTS Texas provided HVAC design engineering expertise, including in-depth knowledge of magnetic bearing chiller technology. The Daikin-McQuay Magnitude magnetic bearing, water-cooled chiller, chosen as the best option to fulfill CPS Energy’s needs, was considered the most efficient option as well as supplying the best lifecycle cost.

The small-footprint chillers also help keep CPS Energy’s 174,825-square-foot main office quiet. In addition, the magnetic bearing compressor eliminated the need for an oil management system and its associated maintenance costs.

“The installation went very smoothly and, as an added benefit, the reduction in the noise level in the central plant with the new units has been significant,” said Jack A. Smith Jr., P.E., CPS Energy project manager. “I am very satisfied with the installed equipment and I am particularly thrilled that we are expecting to see significant energy savings in the building as a result of the newly installed chillers.”

HTS Texas and its partners on the project, mechanical and electrical engineering firm HMG & Associates and mechanical contractor LC Mosel, had only 30 days to replace two 300-ton, water-cooled chillers while the building was still occupied. To ensure continuous operation, the two identical chillers provide redundancy in the event one chiller is out of service for any reason.

The time-sensitive installation required creative problem-solving and skilled planning. For example, to install the chillers, each unit first had to be disassembled, sent down the building’s elevator shaft in pieces, and then reassembled in the mechanical room.

“Our long history of working with these chillers has proven to us and our customers that they are an excellent energy-saving option,” said Mike Donovan, principal of HTS Texas. “It was a privilege to be able to work with CPS Energy and provide them with leading-edge HVAC technology to achieve their energy conservation goals.”

For more information about HTS Texas, visit www.htseng.com.

Publication date: 06/20/2011