District Energy Systems
Entergy District Energy systems enjoy the economy of scale and operational
benefits of connecting to a large, diverse portfolio of customers. By
aggregating the thermal requirements of dozens of different buildings, the
District Energy system can employ industrial grade equipment designed to
utilize and employ technologies that would otherwise simply not be
economically or technically feasible for individual buildings. The
availability of District Energy service reduces the capital cost of developing
an office building by cutting the chiller plant capital cost from the project.
District Energy systems provide chilled water that is used for air
conditioning of building space and process cooling for data centers and
switchgear. In a city, there is generally a diversity of load as different
types of buildings (i.e. residential, commercial, retail, convention, etc)
will use energy under different operating conditions and set peak demands at
different times of the day. Serving this variety of loads allows the District
Energy central plant to operate at optimal output over a longer time period.
Additionally, District Energy systems incorporate thermal ice storage systems
to further expand peak capacity and increase the operational flexibility and
efficiency with the ability to operate equipment at optimal output.
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District Energy services simplify building operations by removing the chilled
water production cycle from the building. District Energy chilled water is
delivered to the building intake valves at 42 - 37 Deg F. A heat exchanger or
energy transfer station circulates the cold district chilled water building
water across the coil. The building side water gives up its heat to the
district water and is re-circulated through building air handler coils to
absorb more heat from the building.
Figure 2 depicts how District Energy service connects with the building system
and displaces on-site equipment for air conditioning.
For more information, contact the Houston
District Cooling office or the New
Orleans Entergy Thermal office.
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