Thursday, June 8
Breakfast and Pre-Tour Briefing: 7:30 am – 9:00 am
Tours: 9:15 am – 12:00 pm
Tours require an additional fee and are subject to change.
CenTrio is pleased to invite IDEA2023 participants to tour North America’s largest carbon-zero district cooling system, featuring six plants across downtown Chicago. Four plants have ice thermal storage and five plants are interconnected via an innovative chilled water distribution system that also uses river water for condenser cooling, saving over 250 million gallons of potable water annually.
There are two tour options – Tour A will visit Plant 1 and Plant 5. Tour B will visit Plant 2 and Plant 6 (The Old Post Office).
Plant 1 has four centrifugal chillers with total capacity of 17,000 tons along with sixty (60) ice storage tanks rated at a total of 66,000 ton-hours. Plant 5 has ten chillers with installed capacity of 14,500 tons and features an ultra-filtration system, ensuring optimal water quality discharge to the river.
Plant 2 has a total of 23,000 tons of peak chilled water capacity from four screw compressor systems, three two-stage centrifugal chillers and a single concrete ice storage tank with a capacity of 123,200 ton-hours. Plant 6, located in the newly renovated Old Post Office building, has 2,000 tons of chiller equipment dedicated to the building and 5,000 tons of additional cooling capacity for the district loop. The plant also supplies 2,500 tons of condenser water cooling to the building by using dedicated river water to condenser water heat exchangers.
Plant 5 (P5) is located in the AMA Plaza Building in downtown Chicago. The plant started commercial operation in June 2002 and has a current capacity of 14,500 tons of chilled water from ten chillers. The plant condenser cooling is provided by river water from the Chicago River. River water pumps supply river water for a once-through cooling system that discharges back to the river.
Plant 6 (P6) is located in the newly renovated Old Post Office Building in downtown Chicago. The plant started commercial operation in June 2019 and has 2,000 tons of chiller equipment dedicated to the building and 5,000 tons of additional cooling capacity from the district loop. The plant condenser cooling is provided by river water from the Chicago River. The plant also supplies 2,500 tons of condenser water cooling to the building by using dedicated river water to condenser water heat exchangers.