Utilities Services

The Executive Director (ED) for Utilities Services manages production, distribution, and metering of utilities (high pressure steam, chilled water, potable water, purified water, compressed air, and 13,800-volt electricity) from the University’s three central heating and refrigeration plants (CHRPs), two gas-fired turbine generators, and eight wells. Included in those responsibilities are:

Maintain, expand, and renew utility infrastructure used to produce and distribute utilities across campus
Planning, design, and managing utility expansion and renewal projects
Monitor and control building energy/water use using building automation systems and a potable water SCADA system
Perform Blue-Stake utility marking
Meter utility use for cost recovery and system optimization analyses
Manage energy-conservation activities
Comply with relevant federal, state, and local safety, environmental protection, and energy/water conservations laws and regulations

The ED manages a staff of about 70 professional and trade workers that operate and maintain the various utility-related plants and infrastructure. Managed staff include:

Central Utility Plants Superintendent, Plant Supervisor, Plant Mechanics, and Plant Operators
Utility Distribution Supervisor, and Utility Piping Specialists
An Energy Manager and Building Commissioning Specialists
A Water Distribution Operator
Building Controls Specialists
An Electrical Project Manager
A Drafter/Designer
Medium Voltage (4,160 to 46,000 volts) Technicians

Managed central utility plants house:

Steam boilers, condensate collection tanks, reverse osmosis water purifiers, boiler feed pumps, steam de-aerators, and pressure regulation equipment
Chillers, cooling towers, and circulation pumps
Medium-voltage switchgear and breakers
Purified-water campus distribution pumps
Plants Control-air compressors
Two natural-gas powered turbine generators with heat-recovery steam generators (HRSGs) on the gas turbine exhausts
Plant monitoring and control equipment for reporting, cost recovery, performance monitoring, and optimization analysis and control

Managed utility distribution infrastructure includes:

Stepdown transformers from the 46,000-volt Tucson Electric Power grid
A buried 13,800-volt electrical grid comprising duct-banks, vaults, switches, breakers, and building transformers
A potable-water distribution looped network comprising of 8 wells, pressure tanks, a 400,000-gallon storage tank, distribution pumps, mains, valves, and backflow-preventers
A high-pressure steam distribution system including delivery mains, valves, steam traps, and condensate-return pumps and piping within the tunnels
A looped chilled-water distribution system comprising distribution pumps, mains, and valves
About 6.5 miles of utility distribution tunnels facilitate access to most of the utility distribution infrastructure for inspection, valve operation, and maintenance

The ED oversees the following Energy Management functions:

Plan, design, install, and daily operation, calibration, and maintenance of the University's energy metering systems
Provide subject-matter expertise on utility and energy efficiency
Retro-commission and perform energy audits of existing facilities
Perform or assist in commissioning new and existing facilities
Develop and execute strategies and plans for utility efficiency and functional sustainability improvements across the University’s built environment
Monitor and report campus utility consumption and variances for capital planning and utility cost accounting purposes
Maintain an extensive network of networked devices and a graphic interface system to monitor and control building automation systems
Monitor and manage the campus Energy Management Information and Automatic Fault Detection and Diagnostics Systems
The BAS (Building Automation Systems) controls Shop, which performs maintenance and repair of control systems for air handlers, pumps, fan coil units, and other HVAC and mechanical systems, and responds to hot and cold calls and all after-hours calls