Services
Advanced Energy Systems & Renewables
Reliable, resilient, low-cost, and low-carbon energy system planning, design, and implementation
Realizing the transformative improvements in efficiency, reliability, and resilience possible with today’s advanced energy systems calls for mastery of complex technologies, strategies, and timelines, orchestrated into alignment with capital expenditure and operating cost imperatives.
Salas O’Brien applies rigor, resourcefulness, and vision to systems spanning district energy, geothermal heating and cooling, combined heat and power, central utility plants, microgrids, battery energy storage, fuel cell, solar PV, waste-to-energy, and biogas – tuned to site and climate requirements and capacities, present aspirations, and as-yet unknown future capabilities.
We work at scales ranging from single buildings to large campuses, in major cities and rural green fields, in new developments and in conversion of century-old systems. See higher ed, municipal, utility, hospital, data center, commercial, military, and utility advanced energy system projects profiled below
Whether supporting a new build, upgrading existing infrastructure, or working across a portfolio of facility assets, we provide guidance to our clients and identify the optimal combination of technologies to meet their project goals, whether they are resiliency, carbon reduction, operational cost savings or any combination of the three. We provide services from planning and design through implementation and commissioning.
Advanced Energy Systems & Renewables Projects
What we offer
Salas O’Brien’s prominence in the rapidly transforming energy systems field is distinguished by highly accurate system performance verification modeling and lifecycle cost analysis, and a breadth of expertise that spans energy supply, distribution, and use, encompassing central utility plants, district energy systems, and microgrids.
District energy systems
Salas O’Brien has been an industry trailblazer in advancing the transition of district energy systems from fossil fuel-sourced heating and cooling to the efficiency improvements of renewable Thermal Energy Networks, including hybrid systems that preserve remaining value from preexisting capital investments. Thermal Energy Networks connect buildings with a shared circulation loop integrated with geothermal heat exchange sources to transfer energy between buildings and access renewable energy during peak demand. Our systems augment the fundamentals of reliability and resilience with long-term projections and strategies so that they remain flexible and scalable as well.
Geothermal heating and cooling systems
Ground source-based heating and cooling systems draw and reject heat from the earth’s constant temperature, creating a basis for system electrification. Combined with thermal storage technologies, geothermal system efficiency can be as much as a 70% improvement over conventional systems. To date, Salas O’Brien has completed over 450 geothermal heating and cooling systems, providing over 90,000 tons of system capacity.
Combined heat and power (CHP) systems
Improving energy efficiency by capturing waste heat produced generating electricity, we optimize existing operations, maximize benefit in new designs, and integrate CHP within hybrid systems.
Microgrids
Accessing power both from utility and onsite energy generating sources, microgrid systems designed by Salas O’Brien provide owners with versatile means of optimizing cost, reliability, and sustainability in real time.
Battery energy storage
Integrating technologies and strategies to manage peak demand, store excess renewable power, stay online when the grid is down, and facilitate energy flexibility strategies.
Fuel cells
Evaluating the technical and economic feasibility of emerging energy options, including hydrogen and solid oxide fuel cells, on behalf of energy system implementation.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems
Combined with battery storage technologies, a reliable and sustainable means of power generation to reduce operating costs. We identify optimal combinations of technologies to meet project goals.
Waste-to-energy and biogas solutions
From landfills to food producers to wastewater facilities, systems to transform organic waste streams into reliable energy sources, lowering emissions and reducing waste.
