Des Moines University Central Utility Plant
Baker Group provided the mechanical, site electrical, plumbing, and building automation services for the 350,000 square foot new Des Moines University and its new Central Utility Plant (CUP). As a result of Des Moines University’s growth, they had outgrown their downtown campus and embarked on constructing a new 88-acre green space campus, starting with four new buildings. The new DMU campus for health sciences education in West Des Moines, IA, was built with a focus on flexible learning, health and wellness, and community collaboration.
Aiming to create a highly efficient central plant that utilizes geothermal wells for the campus's cooling and heating needs, DMU and their construction partners achieved LEED Silver certification and WELL Gold standards. One of these new buildings, the Campus Support Building, houses the central heat pump heating and cooling plant. This plant supplies heating and chilled water to all current and future buildings through a central geothermal heat pump system. The heat pumps work together to provide heating and cooling based on real-time demand. Primary pumps regulate flow to the heat pumps, while secondary pumps distribute the water to the campus's air handlers and HVAC equipment. Additional pumps circulate geothermal water to and from the heat pumps, allowing the system to absorb or reject energy as needed. The heat pumps consist of 10 modules, each capable of approximately 160 tons of cooling. Central controllers monitor the secondary water temperatures and adjust the cooling and heating output accordingly.
The project's first major challenge was its speed. Extensive planning was required to ensure early ordering of equipment, proper layout of installation space, and simplicity for long-term operation. The second challenge was pre-modeling the piping to install all support systems in the post-tensioned structure. As the Campus Support Building also serves as a large parking structure, all hangers and supports needed to be installed before the concrete was poured, nearly 12 months before some piping would arrive onsite. Detailed planning ensured the supports were embedded in the concrete during pouring. The final major hurdle was staging the buildings and ensuring the system's cleanliness, treatment, and operation with varying loads. All mains were installed, cleaned, and treated before the heat pumps were brought online. As new sections of the campus were activated, care was taken to clean those systems before integrating them with the existing setup. Early heat pump operations required careful management due to initially low campus load. As new systems came online, adjustments were made to system pressures and heat pump operations to ensure a smooth transition and continuous operation.