GMCR Essex Plant

Essex Junction, VT

The Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Essex Plant project required various solutions to support the heating, processing, and staff services of Manufacturing / Distribution Space on Level 1, Office Space on the Mezzanine, and Shell Space on Level 2.

The systems needed to support these spaces allowed the design team to find truly innovative solutions to bring this plant to the gold standard for efficiency in VT.

project at a glance

Category: Manufacturing / Distribution / Office
size: 468,100 SF
owner: Keurig Green Mountain
GC: Keurig Green Mountain
scope: Design Build: HVAC, Plumbing, Process
contract value: $30,000,000
VHV Company - GMCR Essex Plant
VHV Company - GMCR Essex Plant

Challenge

Of the total 468,100 SF of this primarily manufacturing/distribution project, 21,600 SF was allotted to office space, and 43,000 SF of shell space. Unique ventilation for the coffee roasting process was needed, as well as efficiency solutions for the staff areas.

The VHV team was tasked with finding energy saving options for the following needs of such a facility: a high volume of chilled water, an efficient heating plant, and dehumidication systems to allow the plant to produce high quality roasted coffee beans.

Solution

The project included a 900 Ton water cooled centrifugal Chilled Water plant with 100% economizers, a 12,000 MBH heating plant, a custom air distribution HVAC systems totaling 187, 750 CFM capacity, Liquid Desiccant Dehumidification systems to dehumidify to Low Relative Humidity (RH) specification of <30% RH at 70ºF for specialty packaging areas, a 650 HP High Efficiency Compressed air system, Recuperative Thermal oxidizers, and a specialty Coffee Process De-gas ventilation system.

The systems VHV Company designed and installed has a calculated Annual Electrical Savings of 4,468,336 kWH and Annual Natural Gas Savings of 1,751,390 CCF when compared to the Vermont State Energy Code baseline and conventional systems.

Ultimately, VHV calculated a total Operating Cost Savings of over $2 Million each year.

This project was awarded by various organizations. View the more detailed Project Report here.

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