West Campus Cogeneration Facility
Cost: $180 million

Madison Gas & Electric and the University of Wisconsin jointly own the West Campus Cogeneration Facility.

The facility will provide heating and cooling for the campus and electricity for MGE customers. It will have a capacity of 150 MW of electricity, 20,000 tons of chilled water and 500,000 lb./hr. of steam.

Rising energy prices have increased interest in cogeneration.

The cogeneration process is the simultaneous production of electricity and thermal energy. The residual thermal energy generated in the process of producing electrical energy, which is wasted in many electrical generation facilities, is used in the production of steam heat.

Despite campus conservation measures that have saved enough electricity to power 2,500 homes, Madison's population and business growth and a societal growth in technology use are creating increased power demand. New classroom and research structures on campus are adding to the burden.

The facility features more than 94,000 sq. ft. of piping, some of it 72 in. in diameter. That translates into almost 18 mi. of piping.

Conservation was a key project focus, and 717,000 lbs. of metal and 288,000 lbs. of concrete have been recycled.

Overcoming Logistical Issues

The equipment was put in place first and the enclosure was constructed around it.

Special handling was required because the power equipment is large. For instance, a single steam turbine weighs about 242,000 lbs.

The large pieces were brought into downtown Madison via rail and loaded onto 120-ft.-long heavy-haul trucks. To avoid traffic and pedestrian snarls, police escorted the trucks to the site during overnight hours.

A temporary bridge was installed over the existing Willow Creek Bridge on the Observatory Drive delivery route.

Putting the plant in the middle of a high-use area required logistical planning.

Because of a lack of lay-down area, materials came in a just-in-time manner.

Some materials were obtained from far-flung destinations like Austria, France and Texas.

The facility's size in proportion to the small site and neighboring structures was a major design challenge.

Studies were done to determine how the facility, which reaches heights of 117 ft., would cast shadows during different times of the day and year. Materials were also selected to break down the building's mass and create a friendlier scale.

Precast ribbed panels form the building and were chose because of the economics, lack of lay-down space and difficulty erecting scaffolding for traditional brickwork.

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