Austin Energy Chiller Plant at Austin Community College Highland Campus

You’ve likely heard about Austin Energy’s power plants, but you might be surprised to learn the utility also has district cooling plants. Austin Energy and Austin Community College teamed up to build the latest district cooling plant at the school’s Highland campus. The district cooling plant serves as a massive air conditioner for the school while using a fraction of the energy it normally would during peak demand times for energy. The utility’s design and operation of the plant meets the goals of the Austin Energy Green Building program in performing load shifting, including a 24/7 monitoring system and preventative maintenance program. This improves the reliability of the system and places an emphasis on energy efficiency. The ACC chilling plant is one of seven district energy and cooling plants the utility manages, including four facilities downtown, one at the Domain and one at the Mueller development.