Standby Boiler Replacement Study at Brock University, Ontario

The need to replace a malfunctioning gas-fired standby boiler at Brock University provided an opportunity for Hatch Energy to carry out an evaluation of existing heating and energy resources and recommend an optimization strategy.

In addition to the standby boiler, the central heating plant comprised: eight diesel generators with heat recovery, 12 electric boilers, a large thermal storage tank, and miscellaneous coils, fans and preheaters. The generators supplied the University's power needs, with some surplus export capacity. Campus buildings were heated by the heat recovery system, supported by the electric boilers. Because the power purchase contract limited the use of electricity for heating, the gas-fired boiler was the primary source of back-up heat.

After a detailed analysis of heat and power profiles and a review of future heating needs, Hatch Energy recommended that the most economical solution would be to replace the single standby boiler with a number of smaller gas-fired boilers, strategically distributed throughout the system.

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