Power Up

Security turns to continuous power for support

Located in historic Williamsburg, Va., the College of William and Mary is the second-oldest college in the nation. In 2008, the historic institution completed construction of a 165,000-square-foot Integrated Science Center, which was designed to bring the college’s science programs under one roof.

Many of the disciplines have unique needs. For example, the chemistry department requires a lot of air handling, with ventilation hoods placed strategically in teaching and research labs on the ISC’s two chemistry floors. Biology students need to store samples in special cooling units, usually called “minus-80” freezers, as they keep their contents at -80 degrees Celsius. If the room temperature rises above 83 degrees Fahrenheit, the compressors on minus-80 freezers start to overload, then fail, causing faculty and students to lose years of work overnight.

Due to these requirements, it is imperative that the building have a strong backup power system. The space designated for the generators is limited as well.

Space and Time are Key
When William and Mary began its search for a standby system, the college had originally specified a 1,250-kilowatt system with a 10,000-gallon main storage diesel tank. At the same time, new EPA regulations on standby generators made it more difficult to deliver in a timely fashion. Because of this, the college would have needed to wait more than one year, causing them to re-bid the project.

“When we re-sent the bid, Generac came back to us with 2x600 kW with a belly tank that held 6,000 gallons of fuel, which Bay Diesel informed us was enough fuel to last for four days without having to re-fuel, which is a necessity for us,” said Randy Strickland, project manager of William and Mary. “Not only does the 2x600 kW sit on a smaller lot than the 1,250 kW would have, but the tank also is a lot smaller and is under the system, saving us much-needed loading dock space.”

Due to the nature of the facility, time was of the essence. A system needed to be in place by the time construction of the new building was complete.

The modular power system allowed for a much quicker 14-week lead time, compared with 40-plus weeks from other suppliers.

“We didn’t have to wait more than a year for a system to be built,” Strickland said. “The re-bid had already cost us a lot of time, so when Bay Diesel came to us with the Generac genset solution, we were ready to move forward.

Their bid was accepted in July, and by February we were in business and the system was installed.”

The Need for Reliable Power
The ISC currently houses the Department of Chemistry and portions of the Department of Biology. It is the first building on the Williamsburg campus devoted primarily to scientific activity, which is why the college must provide standby power should an outage occur.

“We can’t afford to have a backup system that isn’t 100-percent reliable,” Strickland said. “The building’s contents are irreplaceable. Should we experience an outage without full protection, the departments could lose thousands of dollars in research within moments.”

Generac’s MPS provides the college with a solution that combines the output of multiple generators. The 2x600 -kW system ensures that each genset backs up the other, so critical loads receive redundant protection, all while providing the benefits of paralleled power generation in an easy-to-use, single-source system.

The system also features onboard paralleling capabilities, making it easy to achieve “need plus-one” or greater coverage by simply adding modular generators of the appropriate size. It is the notion of scalability that allows for killiwatt outputs to be tailored to the college’s needs. Generac’s modular approach combines the output of multiple generators with digital paralleling controls and integrated switching on board each generator. Generac’s integrated paralleling eliminates the need to use complex third-party switchgear to parallel generators.

In addition, the simple sub-base fuel tank approach pulls the fuel directly from the tank, eliminating the possibility of erroneous fuel distribution.

Providing Value
Not only did William and Mary benefit from the reduced installation time, but by installing two 600-kW gensets, rather than one 1,250 kW, the college saved almost 20 percent of the cost of the system originally specified.

“With Generac’s MPS, the mechanical installation requirements are significantly reduced,” said Rob Robins, senior vice president of sale at Bay Diesel. “There was no need for fuel piping since the tank was installed underneath the system. The reduced installation needs also attributed to a reduction in the overall cost, making the MPS a logical choice for the school.”

MPS Hard at Work
While many of the outages have been planned, the college experienced two unplanned outages since installing the MPS from Generac.

“This system has worked like a champ,” Strickland said. “There was a campus-wide outage one night that lasted about four hours, and no one even knew that it had occurred.

“Generac’s generators started right up and it was business as usual. The other outage was the result of a lost phase from our local power supplier.”

Keeping Cool
On the heels of the successful installation at the science center, William and Mary chose Generac to install another 2x600-kW MPS in the SEWM Central Plant to provide cooling and heating to the science center.

“Because of the environmental needs of the science center, protecting the HVAC equipment is just as critical as protecting the science center itself,” Strickland said.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Video Surveillance Trends to Watch

    With more organizations adding newer capabilities to their surveillance systems, it’s always important to remember the “basics” of system configuration and deployment, as well as the topline benefits of continually emerging technologies like AI and the cloud. Read Now

  • New Report Reveals Top Trends Transforming Access Controller Technology

    Mercury Security, a provider in access control hardware and open platform solutions, has published its Trends in Access Controllers Report, based on a survey of over 450 security professionals across North America and Europe. The findings highlight the controller’s vital role in a physical access control system (PACS), where the device not only enforces access policies but also connects with readers to verify user credentials—ranging from ID badges to biometrics and mobile identities. With 72% of respondents identifying the controller as a critical or important factor in PACS design, the report underscores how the choice of controller platform has become a strategic decision for today’s security leaders. Read Now

  • Overwhelming Majority of CISOs Anticipate Surge in Cyber Attacks Over the Next Three Years

    An overwhelming 98% of chief information security officers (CISOs) expect a surge in cyber attacks over the next three years as organizations face an increasingly complex and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven digital threat landscape. This is according to new research conducted among 300 CISOs, chief information officers (CIOs), and senior IT professionals by CSC1, the leading provider of enterprise-class domain and domain name system (DNS) security. Read Now

  • ASIS International Introduces New ANSI-Approved Investigations Standard

    • Guard Services
  • Cloud Security Alliance Brings AI-Assisted Auditing to Cloud Computing

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, today introduced an innovative addition to its suite of Security, Trust, Assurance and Risk (STAR) Registry assessments with the launch of Valid-AI-ted, an AI-powered, automated validation system. The new tool provides an automated quality check of assurance information of STAR Level 1 self-assessments using state-of-the-art LLM technology. Read Now

New Products

  • EasyGate SPT and SPD

    EasyGate SPT SPD

    Security solutions do not have to be ordinary, let alone unattractive. Having renewed their best-selling speed gates, Cominfo has once again demonstrated their Art of Security philosophy in practice — and confirmed their position as an industry-leading manufacturers of premium speed gates and turnstiles.

  • ResponderLink

    ResponderLink

    Shooter Detection Systems (SDS), an Alarm.com company and a global leader in gunshot detection solutions, has introduced ResponderLink, a groundbreaking new 911 notification service for gunshot events. ResponderLink completes the circle from detection to 911 notification to first responder awareness, giving law enforcement enhanced situational intelligence they urgently need to save lives. Integrating SDS’s proven gunshot detection system with Noonlight’s SendPolice platform, ResponderLink is the first solution to automatically deliver real-time gunshot detection data to 911 call centers and first responders. When shots are detected, the 911 dispatching center, also known as the Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP, is contacted based on the gunfire location, enabling faster initiation of life-saving emergency protocols.

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.