Sydney Entertainment Center

An Aging HVAC System, An Opportunity To Shine

The Sydney Entertainment Centre was built in 1983 and has become one of the busiest indoor multi-use facilities in Australia. After 23 years of good service, it was time to replace the chillers on its HVAC system. But rather than simply replacing the old chillers, Arena Management, the Centre’s operator, considered this an opportunity to improve comfort, efficiency, reliability and environmental friendliness. So they took a total system view and called on the expertise of Trane.

An Upgrade With A Lot Of Upside

Trane Australia recommended not only replacing the old chillers with three Trane 1400 kWr and a 260 kWr helical rotary water-cooled chillers, but also upgrading the entire chilled-water and building-control system to significantly improve overall efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Trane then modified the chilled-water piping system, changing it from a primary-only, constant-volume system to a variable-primary system that works in response to cooling load. The new Trane chillers were specially designed to operate in this environment, so it was a perfect fit. The cooling towers were also upgraded to allow dynamic water temperature reset minimizing chiller and cooling-tower energy use. Finally, to optimize and maximize overall system efficiency, Trane installed a Tracer Summit™ DDC building automation system.

And The Winner Is…

After more than a year in operation the TRANE Tracer Summit building-automation system data logs indicated the Sydney Entertainment Centre had achieved an overall chiller plant efficiency of greater than 5 COP. This is especially impressive considering many chilled water plants struggle to achieve a COP of 3 or 4. In addition to a more than 20-percent efficiency improvement, the Centre won the Energy Smart Green Gold Medal in 2002. We’d like to join in the applause for their vision and dedication, and, of course, for having the good sense to call Trane.

About Sydney Entertainment Center

The Sydney Entertainment Centre was built in 1983 by the New South Wales Government. It is one of the largest and busiest indoor multi-use arenas in Australia and is the home of the Sydney Kings professional basketball team. The Sydney Entertainment Centre has 9,990 fixed seats on sloping tiers that surround the 50m x 29.5m arena floor. With an additional 1,552 seats on the arena floor, the auditorium will seat up to 11,542. The arena floor has a legal standing room capacity for up to 2,500 extending total capacity to 12,490 persons.