NC State University Centennial Campus Utility Infrastructure | Raleigh, NC

The 6,500-sq.-ft. expansion to the campus utility plant will house sophisticated combined heat and power (CHP) equipment to meet the needs of ongoing campus expansion, which includes the NCSU Plant Sciences Initiative (a DPR project).

At the heart of this utility plant is the 5.7MW combustion turbine generator. The exhaust from the generator unit will be captured by the heat recovery steam generator creating additional steam capacity. This additional steam capacity will serve both the campus steam load as well as power an additional generator. The steam turbine generator will produce .3MW that will be utilized by the utility plant to power chillers and internal load requirements.

DPR conducted a high-density laser scan of the existing building and superimposed the 3D model of the space and equipment to perform a "virtual" install. This process helped recognize any potential clashes and allowed the project team to coordinate specific shipping needs and sequencing.

This project also included the largest shutdown ever performed on NCSU's campus; effectively shutting down power, steam, and chilled water to the entire Centennial campus during an active school semester. In order to complete the shutdown successfully, DPR created a 24-hour work schedule which helped complete two 24” welds, four condenser water tie-ins, the termination of switchgear and finally a major firmware upgrade for the substation switches all on-schedule.