CH-03-11-1

Chilled Water Storage in Western Australia

William P. Bahnfleth, Ph.D., P.E.

Member ASHRAE

Graeme R. McLeod

Steven L. Bowins

ABSTRACT Chilled water storage has been in use in Western Australia for more than a decade and is recognized there as a valuable complement to chilled water systems serving campuses and other large loads. Factors affecting the application of thermal storage in Western Australia are discussed. Characteristics of four chilled water systems in or near Perth, the capital city, are described. Comparisons are drawn between conditions and practices in Australia and the United States. The success of chilled water storage projects in Western Australia without demand-side management incentives demonstrates its intrinsic benefits when appropriately applied. INTRODUCTION Within the boundaries of the U.S., cool thermal energy storage (TES) has been closely associated with utility industry sponsorship because of the significant role played by demandside management (DSM) programs in its development and promotion during the 1980s and 1990s. Although post-DSM proponents of TES have provided analysis and hard evidence that this is not the case (Bahnfleth and Joyce 1994; Silvetti 1997; Bahnfleth 2002), the impression that the value of thermal storage depends on utility incentives has been difficult to dispel. It is instructive to examine how thermal storage is viewed and applied in other parts of the world where it has not been supported by similar market stimulation. One such place is Western Australia. This paper focuses on experiences with chilled water storage applications in and around the Western Australian capital city of Perth. Four systemsthree at universities and one at a hospitalwill be described. It will be seen that even in the absence of external economic supports for TES, it is well accepted and has proven its value to those who have adopted it.

CONDITIONS FOR THERMAL STORAGE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA Geography and Climate Australia is an island continent comprising a single country comparable in size to the lower 48 states of the U.S. Western Australia, one of six Australian states, occupies the western third of the continental land mass. The capital city of Perth is located at 32 degrees south latitude on the west coast. Perth is the home port of the sailing syndicate that claimed the Americas Cup in 1983, the first loss by the U.S. after 24 successful defenses, spanning a period of 132 years. The nearby harbor town of Fremantle, some 20 km (12 miles) from Perth, is one of the earliest permanent European settlements on the continent and was the site of the unsuccessful 1987 Australian Americas Cup defense. The population of Western Australia is approximately 1.9 million, of whom roughly 70% live in Perth. The nearest major population center is Adelaide (approximately 0.9 million), the capital of the adjacent state of South Australia, which is approximately 2800 km (1800 miles) east of Perth by road. This makes Perth the most isolated major city in the world. Western Australia has benefited greatly from its efficient mining industry, which has been a major catalyst to Perths growth from a population of 50,000 in 1945 to its present size of 1.3 million. Much of this immigration was as a direct result of aggressive advertising by the Australian Commonwealth Government that attracted millions of people from Europe to Australia in the post-WWII period. Perth has an arid climate, being situated on a relatively narrow temperate plain at the western edge of an enormous range of semideserts and deserts extending over 3000 km

William Bahnfleth is an associate professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa. Graeme McLeod is state manager at HVAC Construction, Ltd., Kewdale, Western Australia. Steven Bowins is associate director at BCA Consultants, Perth, Western Australia.

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(1900 miles) to the east. Perth's rainfall is approximately 860 mm (33 in.) per year, but this is confined primarily to a relatively short winter wet season. In general, the climate is dry and very sunny; Perth advertises itself as having 300 days of sunshine per year. The climate of Perth is one in which substantial comfort and productivity benefits are obtained from air-conditioning. The 0.4% ASHRAE design condition for Perth is 99F (37C) dry bulb with 67F (19C) mean coincident wet bulb, and the median extreme dry bulb is 107F (42C), with clear skies and bright sun being the norm. Local specifying bodies generally use 37C (99F) dry bulb with 23C (73F) wet bulb as their summer design condition. Cooling plants operate year-round in this environment, but seasonal variation of peak load is significant. Electric Power Production The geographic isolation of Western Australia precludes interconnection with other major electric grids. Power generation is a government owned and operated monopoly. It seems unlikely that, under these conditions, competition in a deregulated market will develop to a significant extent in the foreseeable future. Demand-side management and deregulation are ongoing in Australia, but primarily on the more heavily populated east coast. For example, the government of South Australia has formed a DSM task force, which, in October 2001, invited industry and the community to submit their views and proposals, particularly in relation to short, medium and longer term actions (GSA 2001). In Western Australia, incentive programs are not available to support the construction of thermal storage projects. Current plans are to build as much as 200 MW of new generating capacity to keep pace with an estimated annual demand growth rate of 2.9% (Western Power 2000). Electric Rates Electricity powers the vast majority of air-conditioning and refrigeration systems in Western Australia. Electricity was formerly very inexpensive and sold at flat rates, but it has become increasingly expensive. For large customers, it is now sold at prices set by tariffs that would be recognizable to any engineer or operator in the U.S. A typical rate has both a demand charge and time-of-use energy charges. Costs in Perth could be characterized as moderate. Tariffs applicable to universities in Perth early in 2002 were set at approximately $0.50 per kW per day for 15-minute peak demand, $0.07 per kWh for on-peak consumption between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., and $0.05 per kWh for off-peak consumption, with all costs given in Australian dollars. Exchange rates over the past several years have varied from roughly 0.7 (more typical) to 0.5 U.S. dollars ($US) per Australian dollar ($AUS). The representation of demand charges in units of $ per kW per day may be unfamiliar. This charge is multiplied by both the billing demand and the number
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of days in the billing period to determine the monthly demand charge, so a charge of $AUS 0.5 per kW per day in a 30-day billing period is equivalent to $AUS 15 per kW as a monthly charge. At the prevailing exchange rate, this would be roughly $US 7.50 per kW, not greatly different from the demand charges in many U.S. rate tariffs. Chilled Water Loads and Systems Campus chilled water systems in Perth and environs are predominantly primary-pumped with bypass flow control or primary/secondary with constant flow primary and variable flow secondary. Automatic controls are used extensively to dispatch capacity in some systems, but others are operator controlled. In a number of primary/secondary systems, a very accurate bidirectional magnetic flow meter in the bypass is used to stage chiller capacity. Loads in variable-flow systems are controlled predominantly by two-way valves, although some designers follow the practice of placing a number of three-way valves near the extremities of the distribution to maintain supply temperature under light loading conditions. A common characteristic of many Australian chilled water systems that is not convenient when an open thermal storage tank is added is the use of small-volume open pressurization and makeup tanks located at the highest point in the system rather than the closed tanks commonly found in plants in the U.S. Because makeup flows into an open tank at atmospheric pressure, this arrangement provides guaranteed backflow prevention between treated chilled water and city water mains, as was required by the local supply authority until fairly recently. Chilled water system applications are typical: university campuses, medical centers, and other large loads. Air-conditioning of campuses has been underway for several decades and, as is the case in the U.S, the system design capacity is often much smaller than the ultimate peak load, leading at some point to a crisis that requires major decisions regarding system expansion. This may occur either because no consideration is given to load growth or because projections of load growth are low. Unforeseen load growth typically has one of two causes. The first is the expansion of facilities through the construction of new buildings or building additions. The other, which particularly affects universities, is the air-conditioning of existing spaces for which comfort cooling was previously deemed unnecessary. These chilled water system growing pains involve not only refrigeration capacity shortfalls but also transmission limitations of extensive underground distribution piping infrastructure. In some cases, direct-buried piping is constructed of costly copper pipe because of aggressive soil conditions. In newer direct-buried systems, PVC and ABS are widely used because of their combination of lower cost and corrosion resistance. It is common for both supply and return piping to be insulated, less common for only the supply to be insulated, and a rarity that neither should be insulated.
ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia

Before the widespread availability and use of plastic pipe systems, it was not uncommon to use a piping system composed of compressed cement reinforced with asbestos fibers. Its main advantages were its relatively low cost and resistance to deterioration when direct buried. The main drawback of such systems (apart from the obvious risks associated with asbestos) was their limited ability to withstand higher static and dynamic pressures. System Planning, Design, and Delivery Perhaps due to the isolation and high cooling load climate of Perth, owners and operators of large central chilled water plant systems there are open to consideration of any reasonable methods of reducing capital and operating costs. Owners there have shown interest in technologies such as TES that have not gained sponsorship in other capital cities in Australia. In the absence of demand-side management inducements, the growth of TES has been driven by enlightened engineers, interested owners, and domestic and foreign manufacturers seeking to develop markets in Australia. The rate of construction of new systems has not been extremely rapid, but the systems in operation are generally judged to be very successful, both economically and operationally. A decision to use or not use TES is made on the same basis as most other chilled water system projects. Comparisons of capital cost, operating and maintenance cost, return on investment, and less tangible factors such as maintainability and complexity are conducted to identify the best of several reasonable alternatives. The depth of such studies can vary considerably depending upon the owner and the circumstances. Refrigerant replacement for environmental reasons is a major issue in Australia, which adopted a national greenhouse strategy in 1992 (AGO 1992), and plays a role in chilled water system renovation decisions. Consequently, opportunities to decommission CFC-containing refrigeration capacity costeffectively during system expansion are highly desirable. Australian universities are essentially government operated, and being funded in most instances almost wholly from the public purse, operate within exceptionally tight budgetary constraints. Operating and maintenance costs are of prime concern because they subtract directly from available operating funds. Capital costs, while also of importance, are obtained from other budgets through a political process. System design, construction, and delivery typically involve extensive interaction and coordination among owner, consulting engineer, mechanical contractor, and controls contractor. Recent thermal storage additions at universities in Perth (three of the four described in this paper) were substantially design/construct projects built to specifications prepared by the consulting engineer. These projects were noteworthy for the degree of cooperation and openness among all parties, which contributed to the relatively smooth resolution of any problems that arose during design, construction, and commissioning.
ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia

Most owners of chilled water storage systems recognize the need to allow for a slightly more involved start-up/ commissioning exercise than might be expected for other types of projects. Post-construction activities for systems include testing of operating modes, the preparation of training documents, and instruction of operators. However, as in the U.S., the concept of comprehensive commissioning as described in the ASHRAE literature (Elleson 1997) is seldom implemented. Formal testing to prove storage capacity and charge/discharge rates generally does not occur. Sources of Information ASHRAE design guidance (Dorgan and Elleson 1993; Elleson 1997; ASHRAE 1999) is widely read in Australia and has played a role in the education of engineers and contractors there. The journal of AIRAH, the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air-Conditioning and Heating (recently renamed Ecolibrium and previously called AIRAH Journal and Australian Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating), published 17 articles dealing with TES between 1979 and 2001. These include conceptual discussions as well as case studies of successful installations in Australia. By way of comparison, articles indexed under the key word indoor air quality during the same period number 27. Sharing of experiences among system owners is also a significant way in which experiencegood and badpropagates. The first joint AIRAH/ASHRAE convention held in Fremantle in 1999 included papers on TES (Bahnfleth and Musser 1999; Wilkinson 1999) and a tour of the then new system at the University of Western Australia. REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEMS To illustrate both the history and current status of chilled water storage applications in Perth, profiles of four systems will be presented: an older installation at a hospital dating from the early 1990s and three newer projects completed at universities in or near Perth since 1997. Information in these summaries is drawn from a variety of sources, including owners and operators, consulting engineers, and contractors associated with the projects, the open literature, and the direct knowledge of the authors. Key characteristics of the chilled water storage systems and the chilled water systems they serve are summarized in Table 1. Royal Perth Hospital, Perth The Royal Perth Hospital is a teaching hospital associated with the University of Western Australia. Its chilled water storage system has been in operation for approximately 12 years. It is an empty tank system with one empty and five full tanks constructed of lined, uninsulated concrete. The site differs from more recent chilled water storage installations in Perth, as it is on a rather restricted site within the central city. The tanks were installed as part of a major sixlevel wing addition undertaken in the late 1980s that expanded the hospital by 40%. The tanks are directly adjacent to the new
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TABLE 1 Characteristics of West Australian Chilled Water Storage Systems

Royal Perth Hospital Plant size, kWr (tons) TES system start-up year Type Tank material Shape Volume, m3 (gal) Height, m (ft) Length width, m (ft) Diameter, m (ft) Interface type Point of connection Control Design charging T, C (F) Design T, C (F) Capacity, kWh (ton-hr) Peak flow, L/s (gpm) Peak output, kW (tons)
*

University of Western Australia 9050 (2600) 1998 Stratified Steel Cylindrical 2000 (528,000) 15 (49.2)

Edith Cowan University - Joondalup 3800 (1100) 1999 Stratified Steel Cylindrical 2000 (528,000) 15 (49.2)

Curtin University 12,000 (3400) 2001 Stratified Steel Cylindrical 4000 (1,057,000) 25 (82.2)

13,000 (3700) 1990 Empty tank* Concrete Rectangular 1250 (330,215) 5 (16.4) 10 6 (32.8 19.7)

14 (45.9) Heat exchanger Inside Plant Operator 7 (44.6) 6 (10.8) 8750 (2490) 65 (1030) 1640 (465) Direct Satellite Auto/Operator 4 (39.2) 10 (18.0) 23,400 (6600) 120 (1902) 5040 (1430)

14 (45.9) Direct Inside Plant Automatic 5 (41.0) 10 (18.0) 23,300 (6600) 100 (1585) 4200 (1200)

14 (45.9) Direct Satellite Automatic 6 (42.8) 8 (14.4) 37,300 (10,600) 180 (2853) 6040 (1720)

Six identical tanks, one empty. Dimensions given for one tank. Output based on design flow and temperature differential. Actual operating conditions may differ.

plant area serving the addition and are integral with it, being located underneath an attached parking deck at the basement level. The thermal storage system is isolated hydraulically from the chilled water system by a heat exchanger. This results in a 2C (3.6F) loss on both charge and discharge. Consequently, the storage temperature differential is a relatively small 6C (10.8F). For a chilled water plant of this size, the peak output of this storage system is relatively small. The primary maintenance concern is the integrity of the tanks, one of which is known to leak, while another is suspected of leaking. This is, unfortunately, a common problem with cast-in-place reinforced concrete storage tanks. The owner also reports that the tanks will experience a standby temperature rise of 1C to 2C (1.8F to 3.6F) over a period of two days if the thermal storage capacity remains unused for any reason. Relative to the current temperature differential, this is a rather large rate of capacity loss, roughly 8% to 16% per day. The original motivation for installing the system and design operating strategy are not known to the current operat620

ing staff. This situation is certainly not unique. The loss of this institutional knowledge in a relatively short period of time points out the importance of thorough system documentation, good record keeping, and operator training. The current operators have developed their own approach to making the system useful. Thermal storage is used to reduce peak demand in a load-shedding mode of operation and to handle low nighttime loads for the entire site. The site has extensive data logging and reporting capabilities, but the dispatch of the storage system is operator controlled. The system is capable of variable flow, but discharge is generally at a constant flow rate. The Royal Perth Hospital system is similar to many that were built in the U.S. during the same period. It functions well enough to be an asset to the owner but, if built today, would probably be substantially different. The use of an indirect (heat exchanger) interface between thermal storage and the chilled water system seems, in retrospect, to be unnecessary. Its elimination would not only reduce the cost of the piping system but would also increase the capacity of the tanks by 67% by increasing the temperature change of stored water from 6C (10.8F) to 10C (18.0F), assuming no change in system supply and return temperatures. If the existing empty tank
ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia

system was replaced by a shallow stratified system of the same volume (including the empty tank), the additional volume could add as much as 20% to the capacity of the original system, again with lower first cost. The combined effect of these changes is roughly a doubling of the current storage capacity. Given the standby losses observed by the owner, it might have been beneficial to insulate the storage tanks from their surroundings and from one another, although it is not common practice to insulate buried concrete tanks. Of course, these observations are made with the benefit of more than a decade of operating experience and research that were not available to the designers of the original system! The owner of the system is satisfied with its performance and, although there are no definite plans for future load growth, is considering the addition of additional thermal storage in lieu of chiller replacement. University of Western Australia, Crawley Campus The chilled water storage addition at the Crawley Campus of the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 1998 was the first of several major projects undertaken during the past five years and, consequently, was subjected to close scrutiny from planning through operation. The concept for the project developed out of an extensive planning exercise conducted by the university and a consultant. This process is described at length in a published account (Wilkinson 1999), which is the source of many of the facts related in this summary. The Crawley campus of UWA, located 4 km (2.5 miles) from the heart of Perth, occupies an area of nearly 70 ha (173 acres), of which roughly 50 ha (124 acres) constitute the campus proper. The enrollment in 2001 exceeded 15,000 students. A centrally located primary/secondary chilled water plant distributes water to the extremities of the campus through a direct-buried distribution piping system. Development of the chilled water system began in the 1970s at a time when, by University Senate policy, air conditioning was limited to certain types of space, such as laboratories, animal facilities, and lecture theaters. The original chilled water system was constructed to meet all anticipated future load under this policy. The capacity of the chilled water plant in 1994 was 9150 kWr (2600 tons), all CFC-11 and CFC12 equipment. The peak load recorded for the system through that time was 5516 kWr (1568 tons), which left a very comfortable margin for safety and future expansion. Unfortunately, at least from the planning perspective, the University Senate determined in 1995 that the entire campus should be air conditioned. A review of the chilled water system conducted in 199495 to consider issues of load growth as well as refrigerant replacement determined that the projected load on the system could eventually reach 16,500 kWr (4690 tons) and that the distribution system capacity, based on the single existing plant location, was in the range of 9000 to 10,000 kWr (2560 to 2840 tons).
ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia

Three alternatives were developed and evaluated as part of the chilled water system review. 1. Meet capacity requirements beyond the limitations of the distribution system by providing independent decentralized plants for new loads. Construct a new chilled water plant to provide new capacity and connect it to the existing system at a location that would relieve distribution bottlenecks. Add chilled water storage to the system remote from the plant to achieve the same benefits as alternative 2. An initial addition on the southern branch of the distribution system would be followed by a future addition at the north end to give three well-dispersed points of supply.

2.

3.

Analysis of these alternatives quickly established that the first alternative was costly from every perspective and should not be considered further. Comparisons of the other two alternatives indicated that a thermal storage addition would be less expensive than the equivalent chilled water plant addition and would result in the avoidance of 800 to 1000 kW of peak electrical demand for a monthly savings of $AUS 15,000 to 20,000, while limiting the campus refrigerant inventory. Disregarding the avoided cost of a new plant, it was estimated that the chilled water storage system could recover its full construction cost in five to seven years. In actuality, the payback period for the system has been less than three years. Life-cycle savings for a ten-year period relative to the new chilled water plant alternative were estimated to be $AUS 7.7 million. Based upon the recommendations of the chilled water system review, design and construction of a 2 ML (528,000 gal) first-phase stratified chilled water storage tank began late in 1997 and the system came online during the first quarter of 1998. Use of a design/construct process in which a single contractor was responsible for both the tank and pumping interface facilitated delivery of the system in a compressed time frame. The locations of the chilled water plant and the thermal storage tank and pumping station are shown in Figure 1, a chilled water piping map of the campus. A conceptual schematic of the transfer-pumping interface for the storage tank is shown in Figure 2. It is a typical direct interface that permits transfer of water between the distribution piping system and the storage tank. The transfer pump always pumps out of the tank. Flow is into the return main during charge and into the supply main during discharge. Water flows into the tank through either of two modulating pressure-sustaining valvesone for charge and the other for discharge. Valves labeled C are open during charge mode and closed during discharge while the opposite is true of valves labeled D. Likewise, the discharge pressure-sustaining valve is closed during charge mode while the charge valve is closed during discharge mode. The variable-speed transfer pump and pressure-sustaining valve act together to provide the desired flow while main621

Figure 2 Schematic of satellite direct pumping interface typical of the University of Western Australia and Curtin University.

Figure 1 Chilled water map of University of Western Australia campus. Distribution piping route shown with dashed line. taining a pressure setpoint in the same location as the pressurization and makeup tank of the original system. The location of this tank is at the top of the physics building, the highest point on the campus, also shown in Figure 1. During thermal storage system operation, this tank is isolated from the system by a motorized valve and a level sensor in the chilled water storage tank controls makeup. The tank is an above-ground welded steel vessel with double-ring slotted octagonal diffusers. It is located near buildings housing the faculty of agriculture and pens where research animals are kept; therefore, it was decided to cover the tank and its pumping station with corrugated sheet steel cladding reminiscent of water tanks found on Australian farms (Figure 3). The tank was insulated by filling the gap between the tank wall and the cladding with poured-in polyurethane foam. As is frequently the case with chilled water TES projects, tuning of flow and pressure controls required substantial effort but eventually led to a system that was stable and controllable. Many functions of the system are automated, but the operator ultimately determines a dispatch strategy for each day based on expected weather. This makes the operators level of understanding of the system and ability to interpret the data
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Figure 3 University of Western Australia thermal storage tank and pumping station.

obtained from the monitoring and control system a key element to its successful performance. The UWA system has provided data for the validation of computational fluid dynamics models of stratified tanks in ASHRAE research project 1185, which is ongoing at the time of this writing. A preliminary analysis of constant flow rate charging test data suggests that the half-cycle figure of merit for the tank (actual cooling capacity charged as a percentage of theoretical charge capacity for a one-volume charge process) is roughly 94 percent over a wide range of flow rate. Detailed examination of the performance of this tank will be the subject of a future publication.
ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia

The owner and operators feel that the performance of the system during its first three years of operation has exceeded their expectations. The positive operating experience to date increases the likelihood that the proposed second phase system will be added at some point in the future. The success of this project, the first large chilled water storage project in Western Australia in many years, generated considerable interest among other chilled water system operators in the area and has contributed to the decision to add chilled water storage at several other university campuses. Edith Cowan University, Joondalup Campus Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a multicampus institution with an enrollment of nearly 20,000. The Joondalup campus, located 25 km (16 miles) north of Perth, is in the process of becoming the main campus and is expected to enroll 6000 students by 2005. The campus has a primary/ secondary chilled water system with two central plants. The motivation for considering chilled water storage at this site, as at UWA, was to meet anticipated load growth. The decision to proceed with a thermal storage project was made after a life-cycle cost analysis showed that the proposed stratified TES addition would be significantly less expensive over a 25-year period than a plant addition. A conservative sevenyear simple payback was estimated. Economics aside, the ability to extend the capacity of the chilled water system without additional refrigeration capacity was viewed very favorably. Although the chilled water plant and plant load at ECU are less than half the size of UWA, the chilled water storage system is nearly identical in size to the UWA system (Table 1). The steel tank has an insulation and claddin system of the type used at UWA. The vertically ribbed cladding system is typical

of many tanks in the U.S. (Figure 4). The capacity of the system permits it to meet the full peak load at present. No chillers have operated during peak hours since storage was brought online. As load grows, it will become necessary to operate chillers and storage in parallel. This illustrates the important point that a chilled water storage system sized to level future peak loads is not necessarily oversized. By using the storage system in full storage mode, the owners are obtaining added value from the extra peak capacity it can provide. Distribution system capacity limits were not of concern at this site, so the thermal storage was connected inside the main chilled water plant. A schematic drawing of the plant and storage addition is shown in Figure 5. As in the case of the UWA system, the thermal storage tank water level is not the highest point in the system and the tank has a direct interface with the chilled water system. Consequently, pressure-sustaining valves are required to maintain the system pressure level while the tank is online. Separate thermal storage pumps were not provided. Constant-speed primary pumps charge the tank and variable-speed secondary pumps discharge it. The plant bypass has a motorized valve (BP-1) that closes during charging and when thermal storage is meeting the entire cooling load without assistance from chillers. A second bypass around the storage tank has a control valve (BP-2) that modulates to control the temperature entering chillers (TR) during charge mode and the temperature supplied to the chilled water system (TS) during discharge mode. It was noted previously that elevated open pressurization and makeup tanks are used in many chilled water systems in Western Australia. When a chilled water storage tank with a lower water level is connected to such a system, static pressure control may be difficult to stabilize. The small

Figure 4

Edith Cowan University-Joondalup thermal storage tank and chilled water plant.

Figure 5 Edith Cowan University-Joondalup chilled water plant schematic.

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ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia

volume of the elevated makeup tanks can easily overflow or drain completely if an imbalance between flow through the much larger storage tank persists for more than a very short time. To simplify system control, a 700 L (185 gal) closed pressurization/expansion tank was installed as part of the thermal storage project. The location of this tank (ET) is also shown in Figure 5. The owner of the system is very satisfied with the performance of the tank during its two years of operation to date. However, operators expressed a less-than-desired level of familiarity with the operating principles of the system in response to a survey used to gather information for this paper. The owners consulting engineers are conducting an extensive post-construction monitoring and analysis study to assess its performance and will continue to monitor the system as loads from an anticipated 14,000 m2 (151,000 ft2) of new conditioned space are added. Curtin University, Bentley Campus The most recent chilled water storage project in Western Australia is also the largest to date. Curtin University is the largest university of Western Australia and the bulk of its more than 31,000 students are enrolled at the main Bentley campus. The chilled water system has a single plant with primary/ secondary pumping. Chilled water storage was considered at Curtin for reasons similar to those that motivated the UWA project: a combination of capacity shortfall in the chilled water plant and bottlenecks in the distribution system brought on by significant load growth. Addition of new refrigeration capacity would necessitate mechanical and electrical modifications to the central plant as well as major distribution system upgrades. The electric demand of the campus is also taxing the limits of the district power available from the utility provider. This was a consideration in the selection of a TES alternative to meet capacity growth, although the utility declined to support the project financially. After considering the life-cycle cost of available alternatives, the university approved the construction of a 4 ML (1,057,000 gal) stratified chilled water storage addition at a point on the distribution system remote from the central plant. A storage tank at the selected location can be charged overnight while the distribution system load is low. By providing a second point of chilled water supply during discharge, the tank increases the capacity of the distribution system and limits the maximum pressure in the supply piping. Pressure control in the distribution system is of concern because portions of the system are asbestos pipe that experience has shown will fail above a pressure differential of 400 kPa (58 psig). An existing elevated pressurization and makeup tank was replaced by a 3000 L (790 gal) closed tank located in the central plant as part of the TES project. The pumping interface for the Curtin TES addition is located in the basement of a new academic building, but construction of the building had not begun at the time of the construction of the TES system. The variable-speed drive pumping station was built first, and the building was erected
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Figure 6 Curtin University chilled water storage pumping interface during construction. Pipe material is copper.

Figure 7 Curtin University chilled water storage tank.

around it later (Figure 6). The interface of the Curtin system is conceptually identical to the UWA interface and is also represented schematically by Figure 2. The siting and esthetic treatment of the 25 m (82 ft) tall storage tank provide an interesting contrast to the bury it or disguise it approach that frequently drives this important decision in the development of a TES system. For Curtin, the location of the tank was critical because of its role in relieving distribution system capacity problems. The chosen site is elevated, flanked by academic buildings, and in plain view of a major public thoroughfare. Instead of undertaking the dubious mission of trying to camouflage such a large structure, the university decided to make it as visually interesting as possible. One component of the esthetic treatment was to clad the tank in high luster brushfinished stainless steel (Figure 7). When landscaping of the
ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia

site is complete, the tank will be surrounded by decorative colored concrete blades standing 25 m (82 ft) high and will be illuminated at night by upward lighting. The expected effect will be to have the colors of the blades reflecting off the bright stainless steel finish to make the tank a prominent and attractive visual feature of the campus. The system began operation in the first quarter of 2001 and the owner is satisfied with its performance to date. Although there has not been sufficient time to accumulate extensive operating experience, the addition of the thermal storage system has already permitted the decommissioning of two old inefficient chillers with a combined capacity of 1400 kWr (400 tons). SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Chilled water storage projects in Western Australia during the past decade have proved to be economically advantageous as an alternative to additional refrigeration capacity for existing systems experiencing significant load growth. None of the systems built during this period received financial incentives from government or utilities. Recent projects are small to moderately sized stratified storage systems, comparable in most respects to systems found in the U.S. Owners and designers of these systems have demonstrated considerable creativity in using chilled water storage to extend the capacity of distribution piping systems and in the aesthetic treatment of tanks to blend harmoniously with surrounding architecture and landscaping. Thermal storage additions have permitted the decommissioning of inefficient, CFC-containing refrigeration equipment at several sites while increasing peak system capacity. Aside from replacement of open pressurization and makeup tanks with closed tanks, system modifications have been relatively minor. In all cases, storage has been designed for prevailing chilled water supply and return conditions. Actual operating conditions are close to design, but storage temperature differential is generally somewhat smaller than the design value. This leaves open the possibility that the capacity of these systems can be increased over time by reducing charging temperature and by raising return temperature. The successful application of chilled water storage in Western Australia provides evidence of the feasibility of TES in appropriate application niches that should be instructive to those who contend that it is not economical without demandside management support. Many of the factors that promote the use of chilled water storage apply equally to ice storage. Although not discussed in this paper, ice storage has been applied to the chilled water system at Murdoch University, the fourth major institution of higher learning in Western Australia (Kelly and Hoar 1993) and is under consideration for others. Murdoch University is currently studying the feasibility of adding 4 million liters of chilled water TES to its chilled water system as a single system or in two 2 million liter phases.
ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Much of the specific information on systems reported in this paper was obtained from owner surveys conducted by Luke Van Baaren of HVAC, Ltd., Perth, WA. The contributions of Mr. Van Baaren and the cooperation of the owners are gratefully acknowledged. The authors also thank Mr. Jarrod Dunn of HVAC, Ltd., for his assistance with graphics. REFERENCES AGO. 1992. The national greenhouse strategy: Strategic framework for advancing Australias greenhouse response. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved from http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/pubs/ngs/. ASHRAE. 1999. 1999 ASHRAE HandbookHVAC applications, Chapter 33, Thermal Storage. Atlanta: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and AirConditioning Engineers, Inc. Bahnfleth, W. 2002. Cool thermal storage: Is it still cool? HPAC Engineering 74(4): 49-54. Bahnfleth, W., and W. Joyce. 1994. Energy use in a district cooling system with stratified chilled water storage. ASHRAE Transactions 100(1): 1767-1778. Bahnfleth, W., and A. Musser. 1999. Design and operation of stratified chilled water storage systems: Lessons from practice and research. Proceedings of the AIRAH/ ASHRAE Joint1999 International Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Convention, Fremantle, WA. Republished in AIRAH Journal 53(9). Dorgan, C., and J. Elleson. 1993. Design guide for cool thermal energy storage. Atlanta: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. Elleson, J. 1997. Successful cool storage projects: From planning to operation. Atlanta: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. GSA. 2001. Request for submissions and Responses from industry and the community. Electricity demand side measures task force, Government of South Australia. Retrieved from http:// www.sustainable.energy.sa.gov.au/. Kelly, M., and J. Hoar. 1993. Thermal storage using ice at Murdoch University, Perth. Australian Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating. April, pp. 19-22. Silvetti, B. 1997. The application of thermal storage in an unregulated power marketplace. Proc. 20th World Energy Engineering Congress, Atlanta, Ga., pp. 99-105. Western Power. 2000. Electricity outlook 2000/2001 to 2009/2010. Western Power, Perth, WA. Wilkinson, A.L. 1999. Extending capacity of existing university chilled water system utilising satellite thermal storage (University of Western Australia). Proceedings of the AIRAH/ASHRAE Joint1999 International Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Convention. Republished in AIRAH Journal 53(9).
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