Case Study: PICO Power Project (2003)

This 150 MW combined cycle power plant, located in Santa Clara, California, the heart of the Silicon Valley, was constructed on approximately two acres. As the site is located between the San Jose International Airport and US-101, plume visibility and noise restrictions were critical in the design of this cooling tower.

To prevent fogging conditions on US-101 and at the nearby San Jose International Airport, this plume abated cooling tower with fiberglass structure was built with a dry cooling section designed to reduce the relative humidity of the exit air. In addition, local noise ordinances restricted the sound level from the tower to 63 dBA at the nearby plant boundary.

Due to the extremely small jobsite, GEA's laydown and access area were limited to just a few feet around the basin. During construction GEA was required to utilize off-site storage and to have daily material deliveries.

This 3-cell Cooling Tower meets or exceeds the following requirements:

Design Duty:
- 35,350 gpm
- 99.5ºF hot water
- 79.3ºF cold water
- 69.7ºF inlet wet bulb
Zero visible plume to a dry bulb temperature of 35oF.
Low noise features to meet a requirement of 63 dBA at the nearby plant boundary.
Constructed on time and on budget with almost no laydown area and very limited access for construction equipment.
Designed for use with recycled wastewater.

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