Ice Rinks
 Tecogen cogeneration and cooling CHP products are a proven way for ice rinks to reduce their operating costs and carbon footprints significantly, and maximize overall efficiency. Ice Rinks are an excellent match for CHP systems, due to their steady electric and thermal loads and unique operating characteristics described below.
The “Microgrid” feature of Tecogen’s InVerde product is particularly valued in ice rinks, because it can be easily configured to provide convenience power during an outage, keeping important services operating until the utility grid is restored.
Economic Benefits
Operating savings to an ice rink can be over 50%, year after year. Tecogen systems can help ice rinks squeeze the most value out of limited budgets. We would be happy to provide you a detailed free economic analysis, to help you estimate the savings at your particular facility.
System Options
Tecogen will help an ice rink determine which type of CHP system makes the most sense.
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Cogeneration – Either a Tecogen induction generator-based or inverter-based cogeneration system can generate electricity that reduces an ice rink’s electrical bill significantly, cutting the cost of running pumps, lighting, air conditioning, etc. At the same time, free waste heat can be recovered from the cogeneration system and used to offset fuel that would otherwise have to be burned in the ice rink’s water heaters. So in addition to savings on the electricity bill, the gas bill for space heating/ dehumidification, domestic hot water (DHW for locker rooms), and ice maintenance is also reduced. Alternatively, the free waste heat can even be used to drive an absorption chiller, a device which generates cooling from a heat source, thus relieving the ice rink’s other chillers from having to do as much of the facility’s air conditioning.
In ice rink applications, the high electric usage can be satisfied by the CHP plant, while the CHP system’s hot water can be deployed for the usual space heating and DHW heating duty. Other uses for the free waste heat include melting the ice collected from skating surface maintenance, “regenerating” desiccant materials used for dehumidification, or refilling the hot water tank on some “Zamboni’s” ( a device that applies a thin layer of hot water periodically to help smooth the ice).
A Tecogen InVerde module can be operated independent of the grid during power outages, keeping some, or even all of an ice rink’s services operating for extended periods. The patented “Microgrid” operating software allows multiple InVerde modules to operate harmoniously without any specialized external controls or field balancing.
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Chiller – A TECOCHILL chiller, by comparison, provides cost-effective chilled water directly, for an ice rink’s chilled water loop. It does this without using expensive on-peak electricity, greatly reducing the building’s electric bill. At some rinks, the free waste heat available from the engine(s) on the chiller can also be utilized to satisfy simultaneous hot water requirements, such as domestic hot water (DHW) and space heating.
Ice rinks can be especially good TECOCHILL applications, in addition to being good cogeneration candidates, as described above. Ice rinks have a steady demand for cooling much of the year (e.g., 7000-8000 hours/year). A TECOCHILL can contribute to keeping the ice hard by chilling glycol or brine down to 5 - 10oF. TECOCHILL chillers respond well to rapid load swings, as required in some applications. Finally, rinks have plenty of ways to utilize the TECOCHILL’s available free hot water on-site, for space heating, dehumidification, locker room DHW, melting the ice shavings, and the Zamboni’s hot water tank.
TECOCHILL systems require very little electric power, so are ideally suited for keeping ice rinks cool when the utility power has failed. In these applications, the existing backup power sources need only supply electricity for the chiller’s controls and ancillary equipment, rather than for the entire chiller.
Environmental Benefits
 Efficient Tecogen CHP systems can help an ice rink reduce its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions (CO2 output, or “carbon footprint”) by as much as 50%.
Tecogen CHP systems are a good way for an ice rink to “go green”, but in a practical, sensible way. They reduce global warming emissions, while achieving decent paybacks on their own and do not rely extensively on massive government incentives and tax benefits, like some other “green” measures do. Tecogen systems are an efficient and responsible investment of taxpayer and institutional dollars.
Marketing and Educational Benefits
Tecogen systems can even provide educational benefits in ice rinks. The technology itself can be closely monitored and studied so that the environmental and economic benefits can be quantified and tracked by operating staff and rink users, on a “real-time” basis. Tecogen CHP can have marketing benefits, too, as rinks become justifiably proud of their green accomplishments.
Please check out our list of cogen and chiller case studies and find out how rinks similar to yours are benefitting from Tecogen.
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