Feature
Story
Thermal Energy Corp.
Moves Forward:
From master planning
to implementation
Stephen K. Swinson, PE, President and Chief Executive Officer, Thermal Energy Corp.;
William Lynn Crawford, PE, Program Manager, Jacobs
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in
Houston is widely respected as a leader in cancer care.
This year, more than 79,000 patients will turn to the
center for treatment – a 37 percent increase over the total
number of people treated just five years ago. The growth has
resulted in the center’s expansion on the Texas Medical Center
(TMC) campus.
M. D. Anderson is just one of 46 medical institutions
comprising Houston’s Texas Medical Center, home to many
renowned hospitals, universities, researchers and physicians.
What’s happening at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is being
repeated all across the TMC campus. In fact, the largest construction boom in the Texas Medical Center’s more than 60-
year history is in full swing (see sidebar next page).
This, of course, has major implications for Thermal Energy
Corp. (TECO), the nonprofit district energy system that supplies
steam and chilled water – used for air conditioning, space
heating, humidification, kitchen and laundry processes, and
domestic hot water – to 16. 1 million sq ft of space in 42 Texas
Medical Center buildings, including M. D. Anderson. TECO
currently operates two plants with a combined capacity of
761,400 lb/hr of steam and 80,005 tons of chilled-water capacity –
making it the largest campus chilled-water system in the U.S.
Like its customers, TECO is also experiencing unprecedented
growth.
Last year, TECO began implementing a comprehensive
energy system master plan that will set the company’s course
for the next 15 years and allow it to keep pace with the Texas
Medical Center’s expansion. This $367 million capital project
is the largest program TECO has ever undertaken. By the completion of the project’s first phase in 2013 TECO will have one
of the most fuel-efficient and environmentally responsible
energy systems in the country.
Courtesy The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The 12-story Albert B. and Margaret M. Alkek Hospital, one of two hospitals in the M. D. Anderson system, is expanding, reflecting the cancer
center’s rapid growth. Construction began last December to add nine
more floors to the building to achieve the final structure shown here, giving the hospital 478,000 more square feet of space, most of which will
be used to accommodate 300 more patient beds. The expansion will play
a key role in enabling M. D. Anderson to meet its projected inpatient
growth through 2020.
