Energy officials laud The Domain's power plant

Austin Energy and U.S. Department of Energy officials cut the ribbon Monday on a prototype power plant that they say could revolutionize on-site generation for businesses.

The 4.5 megawatt plant, called a cooling-heating-power facility, is located on the site where Simon Property Group Inc. and Endeavor Real Estate Group LLC are building The Domain.

The Domain, in Northwest Austin at Braker Lane and Burnet Road, will include more than a million square feet of office, retail, industrial and residential space.

The plant unveiled Monday is one of the largest in the country to test a new technology approach: using the waste heat exhaust from a natural gas-fueled generator as the only fuel source for a chiller that provides air conditioning and heating.

Austin Energy officials say recycling waste heat to power another generator to run a chiller is not new. What is new, however, is for a chiller this size to be fueled by waste heat alone -- without supplemental fuel.

The chiller can deliver 2,500 tons of chilled water, enough to air condition 1 million square feet.

"This technology will be adopted by all the major building manufacturers," says Ron Fiskum, the DOE's integrated systems technical manager.

The Domain's plant is one of six DOE research projects nationwide involved in testing innovative distributed generation technology. The $8.3 million plant is owned and operated by Austin Energy, but the DOE chipped in $3 million for construction.