Clean energy flows from Denver’s sewer

How wastewater is helping the National Western Center reach net zero

We helped the National Western Center (NWC) in Denver deliver on its goal of becoming a net zero energy campus by harnessing heat from a nearby sewer. The legendary Colorado entertainment complex is in the process of being re-imagined as a year-round destination celebrating agriculture, education, and entertainment, with 2.2 million square feet of new indoor and outdoor spaces.

We were selected along with partners Enwave (now Centrio Energy) and Saunders as the official campus energy partner tasked with finding a solution to NWC’s long-term goal of completely offsetting energy consumption by renewable energy production. The complex project involved multiple contractors, stakeholders, and phased deployment in what is the largest sewer waste heat recovery system in North America, at 3.8 megawatts (MW).

From advisory to delivery

We provided the energy modeling to compare the proposed solution to a conventional one, and supported Centrio Energy and NWC to obtain approval for the concept. We then designed the campus energy plant and campus utility and infrastructure placement.

From the outset, we wanted a solution that was planned to evolve over the expected life of the plant to balance emerging energy technologies with growing demand, and changing environmental, social, and governance requirements. Given the scale of the project, we designed a phased approach, with each site building constructed independently under its own project schedule, then connected to the campus systems in turn.