Thermal Energy Storage Provides More Efficient Delivery of Cooling for High School

CALMAC, a leader in energy storage systems, today announced the installation of its IceBank(R) thermal energy storage tanks at the recently retrofitted Romeoville High School located near Chicago. School district officials worked with Trane, a leading global provider of indoor comfort systems and solutions and a brand of Ingersoll Rand, and Kenneth J. Kogut & Associates to design and oversee the installation of a partial energy storage system, resulting in a more efficient cooling system in the building and enhancing reliability, resiliency and redundancy.

Replacing the high school’s old 350-ton system, the new partial storage system includes 900 ton-hours of ice storage capacity and a 200-ton air-cooled chiller from Trane. Improvements also include a Trane Tracer building automation system to optimize efficiency of chiller plant operation. To provide smarter efficient cooling for the high school, the building controls have the chiller charge the ice storage tanks, creating stored cooling, during off-peak hours when electricity costs could be much lower.

During warm days, the controls use the chiller and the stored cooling energy to cool the school. When the weather is temperate, the building is cooled using only the less expensive stored energy from the CALMAC IceBank(R) tanks. The partial storage system — also known as a hybrid cooling system — combines the added feature of a thermal battery to a smaller conventional cooling system. This affordable energy storage feature provides redundancy and resiliency while reducing cooling costs.

“Everything has worked exactly as planned. CALMAC offers the reliability that we were looking for and the energy savings that we were hoping for,” said Christopher Thill, lead HVAC technician for schools in the Valley View School District, including Romeoville High School. “The simple brilliance of the CALMAC tank design leaves little room for questions or confusion. People have commented on what a unique idea energy storage is, and they are impressed to see an investment in such a forward-thinking design.”

“By implementing a hybrid cooling system, Romeoville High School has minimized its demand consumption and saved on energy costs,” said Mark MacCracken, CEO of CALMAC. “The Valley View School District has already seen remarkable benefits in terms of energy savings and system reliability. A great example of the reliability is when the chiller once went down due to a power blip and went unnoticed for quite some time. While the chiller started right back up once reset, our ice tanks allowed the whole situation to go completely undetected by the building occupants.”

CALMAC will be showcasing its energy storage technology at AHR Expo from Jan. 23-25 in Chicago.

About CALMAC

CALMAC Manufacturing Corporation is transforming how energy is used at buildings to the time energy is used. Widely recognized for promoting peak energy conservation and energy cost savings CALMAC is a member of the Electricity Storage Association (ESA), United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and now the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA). CALMAC is the manufacturer of IceBank(R) Energy Storage equipment with over 4,000 Ice Storage installations worldwide. IceBank systems are a valuable component of the smart grid, enabling energy, including renewable wind energy that mainly blows at night, to be efficiently stored for use during periods of high demand.

About Ingersoll Rand

Ingersoll Rand IR +0.09% is a world leader in creating and sustaining safe, comfortable and efficient environments in commercial, residential and industrial markets. Our people and our family of brands — including Club Car(R), Ingersoll Rand(R), Schlage(R), Thermo King(R) and Trane(R) — work together to enhance the quality and comfort of air in homes and buildings, transport and protect food and perishables, secure homes and commercial properties, and increase industrial productivity and efficiency. Trane solutions optimize indoor environments with a broad portfolio of energy efficient heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, building and contracting services, parts support and advanced control. Ingersoll Rand is a $14 billion global business committed to sustainable business practices within our company and for our customers. For more information, visit www.ingersollrand.com .

SOURCE: CALMAC

Tags: energy storage system, peak hours, resiliency, storage capacity, storage tanks

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