City of Austin Chiller System Design

Demand for Austin Energy’s chilled water services in downtown Austin exceeded the utility’s ability to meet them. The utility needed a quick solution without complex real estate transactions, site development and the city’s conventional design-bid-build process. The design and specification by Stanley Consultants of adding a modular chiller plant on top of an existing city-owned building was an innovative solution in response to rapid growth, and it will contribute to Austin Energy's goal of shifting 30 MW of chilled water generation to off-peak by 2027. The addition of District Cooling Plant No. 4, a modular rooftop chiller plant, added 3,000 tons of additional cooling capacity to the chilled water distribution system, saving from $500,000 to $750,000 annually. The plant was completed and operational at least a year before conventional methods would have allowed using a fast-track design-build delivery system.