10 North Shore Towers Courier n March 2014 MASSIVE POWER PROJECT PASSES HALFWAY POINT BY VICTOR G. MIMONI Virtually beneath the feet of NST residents, the most ambitious project since the city’s premier co-op complex was built is past the halfway point and moving forward toward completion – to provide efficient, reliable heat, hot water and air conditioning for the foreseeable future. “It’s a big job,” said General Manager Glen Kotowski, explaining how the Capital Improvements Committee pored over plans and specifications for months with management and Chief Engineer Sal Castro. “On top of engineering and economic considerations, the project had to be scheduled to minimize any impact on the residents,” Kotowski added. Much of the work was scheduled for the winter, when many Towers residents leave for warmer climes and demands on some facets of the system – like air conditioning – are at their lowest. But the initial phases were begun long before. “Along with the committee, we spent a lot of time going over plans and specifications before we settled on U.S. made generators from the Caterpillar Company in Illinois,” Kotowski said. In addition to the generators, the project involves new boilers, engines, pumps, heat exchangers, catalytic converters to purify exhaust gasses and all-new, state-of-the-art control systems. Every facet of the operation, involving miles of pipe and wires, interweaves with others, literally from floor to ceiling. Special, high strength concrete platforms had to be cast into the floor, which has a network of piping and valves under the surface of the passages between the massive units. Overhead, a bewildering array of pipes and tubes move the gasses and liquids and electricity that make everything happen. In an age where energy efficiency is at the forefront of public awareness, it’s surprising to learn that even stateof the-art generators convert less than half of their energy input into electricity. Not satisfied with state-ofthe art, the Towers planners created a power plant that wrings energy out of every phase of the operation. The exhaust gasses from the generators power compressors for highlysophisticated “heat exchangers” that One of three massive gas generator units sits on the floor of the Caterpillar factory in Peoria, Illinois before being shipped to NST early last December. New, more efficient water boilers, though much lighter than the generators, require care in moving to their new home. power both room heating and air conditioning. Even the hot water for residences and businesses in the complex relies on energy that is “captured” from the other processes. Thanks to powerful software and instrumentation, the entire process of supplying all of NST with electricity, climate control, hot water and fire protection is controlled and monitored from a single room deep within the complex, under the supervision of Chief Engineer Sal Castro. “It’s an amazing project, but that’s why I’m here,” he modestly said. The enormous units were moved in caravans of ultra-heavy duty trucks because of their size, arriving at NST during the wee hours, so as not to cause major traffic problems. The new generators require special reinforced, high-strength concrete bases anchored into the existing floor. In a pulse-pounding move, an ultraheavy duty crane lifts a mammoth generator unit over obstacles between the access path and the NST power plant loading dock. The 90-ton units were moved into place on special “skates,” requiring the floor had to be lined with steel plates. Trailer-sized portable generators stand by to provide electricity when needed during construction. Much of the “floor” of the Towers power plant is actually a deck, concealing a network of piping and power lines.
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