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Utility Distribution
Campus Facilities – Energy Management's Utility Distribution unit is responsible for distributing electricity, steam, water and chilled water throughout the MU campus. This unit is comprised of three groups, Electric Distribution, Steam & Water Distribution and Chilled Water Distribution.
Electric Distribution
Electric substation.
Electric Distribution is responsible for the distribution of electricity from the Power Plant or tie lines with the City of Columbia to all of the buildings on the MU Campus. Our personnel perform the operations, maintenance, engineering, new construction project coordination, system planning, system upgrades and metering for the high-voltage system on campus.
Electric Distribution personnel operate and maintain six separate substations housing 96 line breakers and associated equipment. Over 60 miles of high-voltage lines run through underground duct banks to a network of switches and transformers. We have more than 338 building transformers and over 355 meters for monitoring electric usage.
Water pipe installation on Francis Quadrangle.
Steam & Water Distribution
Steam and Water Distribution operates and maintains 26 miles of underground steam and condensate piping system providing thermal energy to campus. It is also responsible for maintaining the 23 miles of potable water distribution system on campus. In addition to its everyday uses, potable water is also used for fire protection. Over 2 million gallons of water is distributed throughout the campus every day — enough to fill Memorial Stadium to a depth of seven feet!
This group also maintains the underground chilled water piping used to network our building cooling systems. Together, these distribution systems comprise over 70 miles of underground utility piping.
Chilled Water Distribution
The District Cooling group is responsible for the operation and maintenance of chilled water systems on campus. Chilled water is used to provide air conditioning for most campus buildings. It is produced in machines called chillers and pumped through air-handlers in each building to cool the air. MU currently has approximately 22,000 tons of cooling capacity serving 7 million square feet of building space. Approximately half of the chiller capacity utilizes steam to produce chilled water. This is the same steam that has already been used in the power plant to produce electricity as part of the Combined Heat and Power process.
Steam Absorption Chiller.
Strategically located throughout campus, satellite chilled water plants are connected together by 15.8 miles of underground piping which supply chilled water to 90 campus buildings. All chiller systems are controlled and metered centrally by the EMCS. As building cooling demand flucuates, EMCS varies chiller production capacity — operating first the most efficient chillers in this chilled-water loop. Production costs are monitored and chiller performance is analyzed to ensure peak efficiency.