Energy Services Programs

Project Profile:  Hunter College

The Power Authority’s largest-ever energy services project, included centralized climate control throughout the four buildings of Hunter College’s main campus in mid-Manhattan. Hunter is one of the nation’s oldest public colleges and the largest in the City University of New York (CUNY) system.

The complex project centralized climate control throughout the four buildings for the first time through an $18.5-million installation of three high-efficiency chillers and three dual-fueled boilers. The work required routing chilled water, steam and condensate piping through the pedestrian walkway ceilings. The new equipment replaced chillers and boilers at the end of their useful life and will save the college close to $1.4 million in reduced energy and maintenance costs each year.

The three 1,460-ton-capacity electric chillers were sized to allow for sufficient chilled water production to satisfy the entire campus today as well as future expansion projects in CUNY’s master plan. Five new cooling tower cells, with a total capacity of 3,000 tons, were installed.

The three new boilers run on clean natural gas, with No.2 fuel oil as a backup. Dual-fueled operation generates significant energy costs savings and meets strict clean air requirements.

NYPA provided $10.7 million in financing for the project, with the balance from the state Dormitory Authority. NYPA will recover its investment from a portion of Hunter’s savings.

The Hunter project was part of the Power Authority’s long-term energy partnership agreement with the City of the New York. Since 1990, NYPA has upgraded energy efficiency at 18 of CUNY’s 21 campuses, for total savings of more than $ 10 million annually.

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