Greenland’s NC State Project Recognized for Energy Cost Savings

thermal energy storage tank NC State

The NC State University Sustainability Blog recently highlighted a thermal energy project in use by the University’s Centennial Campus in Raleigh, NC. Greenland completed the district energy project, which includes a highly visible 25,000-ton-hour chilled water storage tank, earlier this year.

The storage tank holds roughly 3.3 million gallons of water and is 90 feet tall. Water stored in the tank is distributed during periods of high cooling demand, and the system is “charged” during off-peak periods to reduce power demand.

The article quotes assistant plant engineer Claire Stevens’ explanation, “The tank is storing energy like a battery would but – in our case – it’s storing chilled water to dispense to campus buildings when electricity costs are highest. We will still consume the same amount of electricity but it will pull down our peak energy use and avoid cost.”

The article states the new storage tank is expected to save the university an estimated $250,000 in energy costs each year. You can see a time-lapse of the construction in the video below. The full blog article is available, here: https://sustainability.ncsu.edu/blog/2020/03/10/thermal-energy-storage/

YouTube video