AstraZeneca Power Reliability Upgrades

Buch worked with AstraZeneca to complete a four-year, phased, power reliability upgrade at its occupied United States headquarters in Gaithersburg, MD. Phase 1 included installing a 2.5 megawatt Combined Heat and Power (CHP). The system is comprised of a natural gas generator and heat recovery steam generator. The scope included a significant site work package to construct a cast in place exterior concrete mechanical yard to house the equipment.

Phase 2 of the project consolidated the 8 part campus, originally fed by 4 separate feeds, onto one single electrical switch gear that serves over 1,000,000 SF of occupied space. Two dedicated underground 13.8 KV feeders were installed from AstraZeneca’s campus back to the utility substation to feed the new switch gear. Paralleling gear was installed to control the CHP and the two pre-existing 3 megawatt diesel emergency generators.

The 3rd and final phase of the project was to install a second 2.5 megawatt CHP, a 500 ton absorption chiller and supporting cooling tower to give the site ability to recover waste heat from the CHP and generate cooling. The final product gives the site the ability to carry the entire electrical load with the combined 11 megawatt of on-site power generation. The site is also able to reduce boiler use significantly by generating high pressure steam from the two heat recovery steam generators, and heating hot water from the engine cooling loops. This is a complex and technically advanced system that ensures ongoing operation of the mission critical campus through power reliability as well as provide a significant environmental impact reduction.