POWER March 2011 - 16

The Heat Is On at Arctic
Air Base
Our August 2009 issue reprinted a Marmaduke
Surfaceblow adventure in which
the fictional power engineer visits Camp
Century, a " city under the ice " located in
northern Greenland, about 900 miles from
the North Pole. Under construction was a
U.S. Army 2-MW prepackaged nuclear plant
designed to provide heat and electricity
for the 100 inhabitants. (It operated
for less than three years before removal
in 1963.) During Marmaduke's visit, the
diesel generators failed. As temperatures
in the camp plummeted, Marmaduke once
again solved a life-and-death dilemma using
only his practical power plant knowhow,
the tools at hand, and a few puffs on
his Ringelmann No. 5 cigar.
Camp Century no longer exists, but
near its former location is Thule Air Base,
which is experiencing similar energy supply
challenges. Thule ( " Two Lee " ) Air Base
is a 254-square mile base located in a
coastal valley in the northwestern corner
of Greenland, within the Arctic Circle. The
base, the U.S.'s northernmost military installation,
is nestled between mountains
and surrounded by icebergs and glaciers as
far as the eye can see (Figure 1).
Inside Thule Air Base, U.S. Air Force
men and women have their eyes locked
on computer radar screens. They have the
immense responsibility of tracking foreign
military rockets and missiles using large,
powerful radars. The moment a threat is
detected, they're able to communicate directly
with the White House.
This is one of several critical missions
they are performing for America's national
security, supported by the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, New York District. The base is
home to hundreds of active-duty U.S. Air
Force personnel as well as American, Danish,
and Greenlandic civilian contractors.
For decades, under extreme Arctic conditions,
the Army Corps has constructed
facilities for the base in support of the Air
Force's mission. These facilities include
aircraft runways, dormitories, and medical
centers.
Most recently, the Army Corps improved
the base's heating system by replacing
outdated and inefficient boilers with energy-efficient
exhaust gas boilers that will
save the U.S. Air Force and taxpayers millions
of dollars.
New Energy-Efficient
Heating System
The base's heating system boilers were in
need of replacement because they were
either no longer operational or operating
very inefficiently. Recoverable heat from
the system was being lost to the atmosphere,
and a considerable amount of fuel
was being consumed to make up for this
loss. The U.S. Air Force explained to the
Army Corps that it needed to replace and
upgrade the boilers and make the heating
system more energy efficient.
At the request of the Air Force, the Army
Corps has designed the system upgrade
and is performing this work with Denmarkbased
contractor GC/MTHøjgaard.
According to Stella Marco, project manager
with the Army Corps' New York District,
the new system is expected to save
1. Cold storage. Thule Air Base is located inside the Arctic Circle in northwest Greenland. The
base must import all the fuel used to produce electricity and heat. Source: U.S. Air Force Observer.
the Air Force and U.S. taxpayers $3 million
annually in energy and fuel costs.
Before this project began, the base's
heating system consisted of three structures:
a building called the M-Plant,
which provided the base's electricity and
some steam, and two steam plant facilities
that provided the base's steam for
heating and hot water. All of these buildings
used considerable fuel to run engines
and boilers.
The Army Corps is removing the old
boilers and installing four new exhaust
gas heat recovery boilers in the M-Plant,
which will effectively consolidate all steam
production under the M-Plant's roof. To
make room for these boilers, an extension
was built onto the M-Plant. The two steam
plants will serve as an emergency backup
heating source. This consolidation will
save the base approximately 1.6 million
gallons of fuel annually.
Two boilers were installed this past
summer, and two more will be installed
next summer, when warmer weather again
enables construction.
The new heat recovery boilers are connected
to the M-Plant's existing five 12-cylinder
Cooper-Bessemer diesel engines that
drive five large generators, each rated at 3
MW. Each diesel engine runs on jet fuel (JP8).
These large engines have an exhaust temperature
of 700F-840F (Figure 2).
2. Balance of power. Thule Air Base is
powered by five 12-cylinder Cooper-Bessemer
diesel engines, each producing 3 MW burning
jet fuel. Package boilers, also firing jet fuel,
supplied the plant's thermal energy needs. A
project is under way to add heat recovery exchangers
to each of the diesel engines to produce
heating steam and hot water for the base.
These upgrades will save several million dollars
each year. Courtesy: JoAnne Castagna, U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, New York District
16
www.powermag.com
POWER | March 2011

http://www.powermag.com

POWER March 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER March 2011