Oncor Electric Delivery Co.’s Lancaster facility has been awarded LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Fort Worth-based PRIM Construction LLC served as general contractor for the project, with Corgan Inc. serving as lead architect.
LEED certification denotes a building’s “green,” or environmentally friendly, features from design and construction to daily maintenance.
“The design team of Corgan and PRIM Construction is committed to sustainable building in all sectors and continuing to grow their LEED-certified square footage in North Texas and beyond,” according to a joint news release from both companies.
The building, at 2471 S. Dallas Ave., houses the company’s microgrid and educational facilities. Among its green design features is a control room allowing visitors to see how solar, battery, micro-turbine and load-management systems can work together in utilizing local solar energy sources and batteries for locally reliable energy.
Other features include a 104 kilowatt south-facing solar array structured on a carport, a 2 kilowatt west-facing solar array demonstrating how such an array can provide energy during hot afternoons, and a 200 kilowatt lithium-ion battery with 400 kilowatt hours of energy storage to even out solar energy fluctuations from passing clouds. The idea is to support peak power demand of the facility to minimize grid demand, as well to restore power to the site’s microgrid upon loss of the main power grid.
The facility also features an inverted roof design to capture rainwater, which is stored in cisterns also collecting air-conditioning condensate water to feed into the irrigation system that maintains drought-resistant landscaping.