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Generac designs a backup power solution of Biblical proportions
7/25/2018 12:00:00 AM
The Museum of the Bible (MOTB), located just three blocks from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., opened to the public in 2017. A 1920s-era, refrigerated warehouse was completely renovated to house the 430,000 square foot museum complex. The transformation came with a unique set of needs to fit the MOTB’s vision of becoming one of the most technologically advanced and engaging museums in the world.
From a backup power generation standpoint, there were myriad considerations due to the enormity of the structure. “Facilities of this magnitude typically have much larger loads that need to be backed up compared to a smaller project,” said Keith Fogle, a foreman for Ennis Electrical Company. “There are numerous life safety issues; fire alarms, security, egress lighting, as well as other considerations that must be supported by the backup power generation solution.”
One of these considerations was the climate control system, needed to preserve the MOTB’s priceless relics. “The museum has historic artifacts that date back centuries and we must keep those artifacts at specific temperatures and relative humidity set points,” said Kenz Meliani, electrical engineer at SmithGroupJJR. “A large part of the climate control mechanical equipment was required to be on backup power.”
Due to the size and complexity of the project,
it was decided that the best project delivery method was design-assist. Design-assist allowed Generac to engage with contractors and design engineers earlier in the process to ensure all design and construction details were resolved prior to the final bid documents. That led to an ideal backup power solution created through the partnership of Kelly Generator & Equipment, Inc., Clark Construction, Ennis Electric, Southland Industries, and SmithGroupJJR. Generac brought extensive design, natural gas fuel applications, and digital paralleling technology expertise to the table.
The original design by SmithGroupJJR specified three 1 MW diesel fueled generator units on the penthouse level of the building, each with a dedicated load. There were a few unique complications with this solution, according to Mike Buser, project executive at Ennis Electrical Company. “The owner didn’t want to deal with maintenance issues associated with diesel fuel, not to mention the risk of a spill or a leak.” What’s more, the generator units would have had to be installed on the penthouse level of the building, requiring fuel to be stored in an adjacent parking garage, resulting in lost parking spaces.
That’s when Kelly Generator stepped in and recommended a Generac 3.2 MW Modular Power System (MPS). The MPS solution consisted of eight paralleled 400 kW Natural Gas generators, a solution that fit well with the maximum height requirements. “A big challenge was space limitations,” said Meliani. “Generac was able to offer a physically shorter gen-set than the competition, which worked out really well with the design of the room that we were given.”
To take advantage of the room height available, Kelly proposed mounting four units on a steel structure over the other four. “Four over four is something I have never done,” said Gary Fink, sales engineer at Kelly Generator. “The idea came from seeing other projects Generac had done. So I reached out to Generac for some assistance and we put our heads together to see if the room could accommodate the necessary air flow and temperature rise.” They decided to use a grated structure to facilitate airflow provided by four 50,000 CFM overhead fans. Natural ventilation was not an option to supply ample air flow for the eight generators.
Life safety systems needed to be upgraded to meet current codes and regulations as well. Generac was able to guarantee at least one of the eight generators would be serving life safety loads within ten seconds for up to 400 kW. As such, even in the unlikely event that seven units are offline, life safety systems will still be supported.
“With Generac’s paralleling system there is no single point of failure,” said Meliani. “If one of the communications lines was to fail the looped configuration of the digital communications ensures the generators are still able to be paralleled.”
The design team found another benefit by choosing Generac’s digitally integrated paralleled system. “Paralleling in the past always required a separate switchgear lineup and often a separate controller lineup,” said Buser. “That’s usually a piece of equipment that isn’t provided by generator manufacturers. With these units, everything is on board and Generac has a pretty seamless plug and play operation.”
The museum also wanted to economize on the number of transfer switches, and Generac was able to consolidate the original design requirements from eight switches to five. Several team members commented that Generac was selected because of its fresh, innovative solutions.
“This was our first time working with Generac,” said Jacob Pohlman, electrical engineer, SmithGroupJJR. “Generac is supportive and a team player. We don’t always see that cooperation through all levels of the design so it was great that this critical element was fully supported by the manufacturer. Without it, I don’t think we would have been able to deliver the same end product.”
Generac proved it could deliver on the promise. “The company’s performance on the Museum of the Bible project demonstrated to Ennis Electric and me that Generac can be a player on large, complex projects,” said Buser.
“We would specify Generac again,” said Pohlman. “They demonstrate that they can deliver a natural gas fueled paralleling system that will compete at any level.”
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