Challenge
The Allina Health Abbott Northwestern Campus near downtown Minneapolis, MN, recognized the need for growth to better serve its patient population. The existing aging central utility plant and infrastructure were no longer capable of meeting the campus’s future growth needs, necessitating the construction of a new CUP.
Approach
The project involved intricate engineering challenges, including constructing temporary cooling towers to maintain campus services during construction and creating new utility tunnels to extend heating, cooling, and water services. The CUP also interfaces with existing infrastructure seamlessly.
Outcome
The CUP utilizes a combined heat and power system, generating electricity and heat simultaneously. The system includes a combustion turbine generator and heat recovery steam generator, which harnesses exhaust heat from the turbine to produce steam, lowering operational costs.
