1994
Central Energy Plant

UAMS Central Energy Plant

The UAMS Central Energy Plant provides steam, chilled water and power to all but two buildings on campus. Five boilers operate at a pressure of 100 pounds per square inch gauge (psig) and serve sterilizers, air handling units and the kitchen. While not all of them are needed at one time, three of them are often operating together to provide enough capacity to heat the campus in the middle of winter.  

Chillers are also needed in the winter to provide cooling, and a typical winter load is 1,200 to 1,500 tons or just one of the eight chiller units. UAMS has a total of 12,200 tons of cooling capacity. For comparison, a typical home might have only three tons of cooling, so the UAMS plant could cool 4,067 homes in the middle of July. The chilled water is pumped around campus via underground tunnels to air handling units and then returned to begin the cycle again. 

Finally, the Boiler Plant houses three 1,500-kilowatt (kW) generators and underground fuel tanks with 54,000 gallons of fuel. These generators primarily serve the hospital and Ward Tower.  Other generators are scattered throughout the campus to serve critical loads in patient care, research and educational spaces. 

Originally built in 1958 as the Boiler House, additions in 1960, 1968, and 1994 brought the total square footage of the Central Energy Plant to 20,349 for campus support.

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