Florida Power and Light Program Provides Significant Savings to Nova Southeastern University

For many years, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) has been participating in the Florida Power and Light Thermal Energy Storage (TES) Program. This program provides financial incentives for organizations to operate in an efficient manner, using every opportunity to reduce the use of electricity for daily operations.

For NSU, participation in the program translates into more than $1.7 million in rebates from FP&L since 2007. And now, FP&L will present NSU with its latest rebate in the amount of $392,640. The event is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thur., Nov. 29 at NSU’s Robert S. Lafferty Sr. Central Energy Plant, located on NSU’s Fort Lauderdale-Davie Campus, 3301 College Ave.

“We are always looking for ways to be as energy efficient as possible while also being fiscally responsible,” said Dr. George Hanbury, President of NSU. “By utilizing the latest technologies in construction we’ve been able to receive a significant savings in operating costs, coupled with sizable rebates from FP&L. These are dollars that can be used elsewhere, helping keep overall costs down.”

NSU’s Robert S. Lafferty Sr. Central Energy Plant has been recognized as one of the largest energy storage systems in the United States, providing cooling that is both energy efficient and, at the same time, environmentally friendly.

“This plant is responsible for a majority of the cooling of the buildings on our Fort Lauderdale-Davie campus,” said Anthony Todaro, Associate Director of Physical Plant Operations at NSU. “It’s design allows us to make the ice we need to cool our facilities during off-peak hours, which reduces costs for us as well as lessening the strain on the electric grid.”

The way it works is simple: the plant makes huge amounts of ice during the evening hours when there is less stress on the electric grid. That ice is kept in huge containers and then used to cool the air that is pumped into various rooms and buildings.

NSU will continue exploring every opportunity to improve its operations and working hand-in-hand with FP&L is just one example of this commitment.