In response to climate change, the $438 million Stanford Energy System Innovations (SESI) program creates one of the most energy efficient systems of any major research university. Stanford’s goals for the project included reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 68% and fossil fuel consumption by 65%. The project needed to be financially feasible and built within a tight design and construction schedule that included rigorous permitting and six months of commissioning.  

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A key component of the SESI program, the Central Energy Facility replaced the existing natural gas-powered cogeneration plant with an electrically-powered regeneration plant featuring heat recovery chillers and thermal energy storage. The cutting-edge energy system uses waste heat from more than 150 campus buildings and redistributes it for heating purposes. All five buildings making up the project were delivered via the fast-track project delivery method using multiple bid/construction packages. R+C was structural engineer-of-record for phase 1 of the project, the original Central Energy Facility, and is now working on phase 2, the facility’s expansion to its maximum capacity. 

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