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Vanderbilt University, 13.5 MW CHP System - Case Study
Vanderbilt University is a private research university of about 7,000 undergraduate and 6,500 graduate and professional students located in Nashville, Tennessee. The campus has 179 buildings across 341 acres and includes both university and medical facilities. To support this large campus, electric, heating and cooling utilities are provided and maintained by the plant operations department of Vanderbilt.
The plant operations department serves 12 million square feet of conditioned space on campus providing steam and chilled water for heating and cooling. The Vanderbilt CHP power plant, located in the center of the university campus, produces 90 percent of campus heating and 40 percent of campus cooling while providing 23 percent of campus electricity. The power plant has undergone many renovations over the years, and in the summer of 2015, another major renovation was completed. This included the elimination of coal-fired equipment in favor of natural gas-fired equipment, including a new combined heat and power (CHP) unit. The 2015 project increased the efficiency of Vanderbilt`s energy system and saves the university $3 million annually while reducing campus greenhouse gas emissions by 30%.
