Case Study

Providing Zero-Cost Steam System Upgrades Through National Grid Rebates to Nassau County High Schools

SMI Impact

This district will realize savings of 108,232 therm in the first year.

Customer

A central high school district in Nassau County New York with six (6) high schools. The average school encompasses 172,846 square feet under roof, in total the district has over one million square feet of building space. The district uses natural gas to fire boilers which produce steam for perimeter heating, space heating, hot water generation and heat exchangers for hot water generation. The buildings were all constructed before 1970.

Background

Steam systems require regular maintenance to perform efficiently, providing consistent heat while optimizing condensate return to the boiler. The most common loss of energy in the steam system occurs when steam traps fail. Proper installation should provide six years of maintenance-free operation, but some units fail early and while others remain in service for far longer.

Many natural gas utility providers such as National Grid recognize this problem and incentivize their gas customers to repair steam traps through prescriptive and custom rebate programs. To address this concern, National Grid created a pilot program with an enhanced prescriptive rebate of $300 per steam trap. Historically, the prescriptive rebate has been $100 per trap. The enhanced prescriptive rebate window period was initially limited to October 1 to December 31, 2022 for the pilot program, meaning all work had to be completed in that time for this project. Since then, this program has been extended to the end of 2023. Under this program, every steam trap rebuilt or replaced every six (6) years is eligible for the rebate program.

The Problem

Like many school districts, this customer lacked internal resources to properly test, repair and maintain steam traps resulting in excessive energy loss, overheating and water hammer.

The district engaged Steam Management, Inc. (SMI) to perform a steam trap evaluation and system upgrade utilizing National Grid rebate incentives. The district wanted to rebuild all 1,857 of its steam traps across six (6) schools with no out-of-pocket investment. The previous steam trap retrofit project included replacement of all mechanical steam traps, and refurbishment of all thermostatic steam traps with new internal components and covers. The work had last been performed in 2016 by Steam Management as a subcontractor to an energy service company (ESCO) performing a district-wide energy savings performance project (ESPC).

The Solution

As a ProNet partner to National Grid, and an accredited steam system expert by NAESCO, Steam Management is uniquely qualified to provide steam trap maintenance as a service.

Steam Management engaged with the customer by having the district sign a release of funds letter authorizing SMI to be paid 100% of the available rebate funds by National Grid. SMI filed all rebate application paperwork on the district’s behalf. SMI used the per trap rebate value to pay for an investment grade survey, all materials, complete installation of all steam trap rebuilds and replacements, and commissioning of the system.

As the window of opportunity to survey and install the upgrades coincided with the heating season, and with school in session, all work including the survey occurred after 3pm. The district received a completed project with no money out of pocket inside of the prescriptive rebate window.

The district received a line by line as-built in MS Excel format with details of every steam trap in the district, including:

Building Name
Location (room name)

Floor
Tag #
Qty
Elevation
Pipe Size

Steam Trap Type
Manufacturer & Model Number
Steam Pressure
Equipment (Fan Coil, Radiator, Air Handler, Heat Exchanger, etc.)

Steam Management provides calculated savings for each customer based on the final as-built equipment schedule. The savings are based on Napiers’ equation for steam flow through an orifice with a conservative failed/leaking rate of 20% over the entire steam trap population.