Mechanical design of the district cooling plant for Downtown San Diego, located in the East Village district and serving the new Padres Petco Park, the Downtown Main Library, the Omni Hotel and other large-scale facilities.
Extensive life cycle studies were performed to analyze different alternatives to optimize the central plant scheme. A 20,000 ton-hour ice thermal storage system (TES) was designed based on early economic projections. The TES utilizes ice on coil technology with external melt to take advantage of lower chilled water temperature and smaller space requirements.
The plant was subsequently redesigned and constructed without a TES, based on a revised economic model. District cooling was also designed with consideration for a future expansion. The revised plant houses 5,200 tons of refrigeration capacity. Piping is capped and sized to 5,200 tons of additional refrigeration (or TES) for a total of 10,400 tons.
