On August 26, 2014, the $442 million urban, two-story casino swung open its doors with much fanfare to unveil a 122,000-square-foot gaming floor, outdoor entertainment plaza and 20,000-square-foot marketplace featuring authentic Charm City food outlets, three premier restaurants and several bars and lounges. The "city-integrated casino," as it's being billed, was designed to maximize connectivity with surrounding businesses.
Large facilities like the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore face unique design challenges and complexities. Casinos must operate around the clock while meeting high energy demands. To meet these needs cost effectively, the house placed its bet on an MTU Onsite Energy Series 4000 natural gas CHP system. The Series 4000 CHP system will support the continuous electricity and climate control demands of the two-story casino with its output of 1,149 kilowatts of electricity (kWe) and 4,137,000 BTUs of heat per hour. Using captured heat from the engine's jacket water and exhaust systems, the CHP is expected to more than double the overall energy efficiency of the building. As part of a planned expansion, the CHP, which is piped for the addition of an absorption chiller that will use the thermal output to produce cooling, will be converted into a trigeneration system.
To complement the system, MTU Onsite Energy also provided Horseshoe Casino with a diesel-powered Series 1600 emergency backup generator set. The end-to-end power solution – sourced and installed by Curtis Engine & Equipment, MTU Onsite Energy's local Baltimore-area dealer – marks the company's first combined sale of a diesel backup generator set and gas-powered Series 4000 CHP in the United States. MTU Onsite Energy is a Rolls-Royce brand and is a producer of diesel- and gas-fueled power generation systems.
To read the full article from Power Engineering magazine, click here for Maryland's Newest Casino Takes a Creative Approach to Power