Photo by Darin Barrett
In mid-August, the Rocky Mountain Power Marketing and Operations Center in Loveland, Colorado, got an upgrade to its heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system. Crews took advantage of the emptier-than-usual building and parking area to install several new rooftop condensers with minimal disruption.
The project upgraded the cooling for the main computer server room and communications room. It had been planned for nearly a year, before COVID-19 kept a large number of employ¬ees out of the office.
“Some of this activity was scheduled to be done on the weekends, or during night hours, but with a high percentage of personnel teleworking, it eliminated that problem,” said Facility Maintenance Employee Darin Barrett, who works under the RiverTech contract. “This also allowed con¬struction workers to practice social distancing when in the building.”
To further allow for safe practices, only a small number of workers were allowed indoors; the rest used a special, designated ladder to gain access to the roof.
“When we do have people return to the PMOC, most will probably never see or hear any of the system in operation,” said Barrett, “but I would like them to know that this will allow increased computer server capacity for our supervisory control and data acquisition depart¬ment, and increased confidence that WAPA can keep the lights on for 40 million Americans 24/7/365, rain, snow or bright 90-degree sunshine.”
Barrett was also happy to learn that the building would be getting a new neighbor.
“Congress recently approved the construction of a new clinic for the Department of Veterans Affairs directly north of us,” he said. “This is a welcome sight for many of our veter¬ans, including Loveland personnel who have previously served their county in the armed forces.”
The clinic is scheduled to open in 2022.
Last modified on March 5th, 2024