Merritt Square Mall
A SELF-SUFFICIENT MALL RELIES ON TRANE TO KEEP ITS CUSTOMERS SHOPPING
MERRITT SQUARE MALL GENERATES ITS OWN ELECTRICITY, BUT IT TRUSTS TRANE TO SUPPLY THE COMFORT
The Merritt Square Mall in Merritt Island, Florida has many of the things you’d see in every mall in America, beautiful retail spaces, restaurants, and thousands of shoppers enjoying the comfortable indoor climate. It also features something unique to this mall—an on-site electric generation plant. When the mall first opened on Central Florida’s “Space Coast,”,access to a bulk power supplier was so difficult and costly they decided to install an independent power station instead. And right from the start Trane was there to help make it more efficient.
A cogeneration concept was woven into the power plant’s design from the beginning. The plan was to increase the efficiency of the facility by using heat recovered from the water-cooled natural gas electric generators to supply a Trane 550-ton Model ABSC absorption unit. A few years later a TRANE Horizon™ single stage Model ABSD absorption unit was also added. The hot water from the engine plant supplies the two Trane absorption chillers which then provide chilled water for cooling the mall itself. And since the engines of the generator produce a heat output of approximately 2.5 million BTU, the absorption chillers will never lack for cooling capacity.
In addition to the absorption units, the plant includes two TRANE CenTraVac™ centrifugal chillers, a Model CVHA rated at 550 tons and a Model CVHF rated at 750 tons, which provide back up and supplemental cooling for excessively hot days. This smart system not only supports itself, it also provides excellent performance and remarkable efficiency. And it’s a benefit the mall can pass on, says Larry Golden, a senior mall retail operations manager, “When we can operate equipment more efficiently, it makes our tenants happy and brings in more tenants.” That’s why we’re pleased with this system.” Not to mention the fact that comfortable shoppers are likely to shop a little longer.
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