Designed and installed by Total Energy Solutions (TSE), the $2.6 million trigeneration plant is primarily made up of a 770 kilowatt electric (kWe) reciprocating gas engine and a 650 kilowatt refrigeration (kWr) absorption chiller, allowing three outputs to be produced: electricity, heating and cooling.

The trigeneration plant produces about 80 per cent of the building’s electricity requirements, as well as producing domestic hot water for bathrooms and kitchenettes, and chilled water for space air conditioning throughout the building. Both the hot water and chilled water are produced for ‘free’ from the waste heat of the trigeneration plant, making the plant highly energy efficient (about 85 per cent) and cost effective.

A unique feature of this trigeneration plant is its ability to provide emergency power to the building in the event of a blackout without diesel generators.

All core tenant functions, including ventilation, power, lighting and lift operation can be produced by the trigeneration plant within 30 seconds of a network failure. Capital and maintenance savings are achieved and diesel emissions are eliminated.

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The project team has worked closely with Energy Australia to satisfy their strict design and installation regulations for connecting on-site power generation to the main power grid.

The trigeneration plant is interconnected to the building’s Building Management System, and remote monitoring and control of the plant’s operations can occur 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With the trigeneration plant in place, the Ark Building and tenants have reduced their carbon footprints dramatically.

For comparison purposes, if the Ark Building was designed with no trigeneration plant in place, it would have consumed approximately 3,300 tonnes of CO2 per year. With the trigeneration plant in operation, the building will consume approximately 2,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

This is a saving of nearly 40 per cent in carbon emissions per year which translates to taking over 500 cars off the road every year. Over the 15 year planned life of the trigeneration plant, this will equate to taking 7,500 cars off the road.

The trigeneration plant is part of a suite of energy efficient measures that have been put into place across the ground-breaking Ark Building, which have resulted in the highest available Greenstar energy rating of 6 stars, representing World Leadership in sustainable building design. Developer Investa is also aiming for a minimum 5 star NABERS rating, and an aspiration to achieve a 6 Star Green Star As Built rating.

Built by Thiess, Project Manager Nick Kouvaris says that the development demonstrated Thiess’ reputation for innovation and performance.

“We are the first team in Australia to be designing with a Building Information Model from conception to maintenance manuals, we have installed a trigeneration system, achieved a 6 Star Green Star Office Design rating and are targeting a 6 Star Green Star As Built rating, which is world’s best practice,” says Mr Kouvaris.

Aside from the trigeneration plant, other energy efficiency initiatives include a greywater recycling system for reuse of shower and basin waste water; a stormwater recycling system for reuse of rainwater collected from the roof and balconies; fire sprinkler test water reuse; and an energy efficient air conditioning plant. T5 lighting is standard and floors are zoned into small areas to allow lighting to be activated by a DALI lighting control system. Natural light penetration is maximised with windows on three sides plus a side core.