Louisiana Tech University Plans Satellite Cooling Plants for Ruston Campus

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). With the proposed 7.5 megawatt (MW) cogeneration plant expansion now under construction, Louisiana Tech University (Ruston, Louisiana) officials are now turning their attention to the future chilled water needs of the university campus.

Traditionally, universities such as Louisiana Tech have used a central cooling plant to handle the chilled water needs of its buildings. However, in recent years, with the explosion in university construction across the United States, more and more universities are moving to a satellite plant configuration. To that end, Louisiana Tech is planning to construct three or four (3-4) satellite cooling plants each comprised of two (5) 500-ton chillers to service small clusters of buildings on campus.

The $12 million project is still in the early planning stages with the selection of a design firm not scheduled to happen until the summer of 2004. A general contractor will be selected in the fall or early winter of 2004 and actual construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2005.

When these satellite cooling plants come online in late 2006, they should provide the university with the necessary cooling capacity to satisfy their expansion needs for many years to come.

Louisiana Tech University was founded in 1894 as the Industrial Institute and College of Louisiana and opened its doors in September 1895 with a faculty of six (6) and two hundred and two (202) students. In 1921 the universities name was changed to Louisiana Polytechnic Institute and in 1970 it was changed again to Louisiana Tech University. Today, Louisiana Tech University has an enrollment of around 10,000 students and occupies 260 acres on the main campus, offering degrees in five colleges: the college of administration & business, the college of education, the college of applied & natural science, and the college of liberal arts.