Southern Maryland Electrical Cooperative (SMECO) Engineering and Operations Center

KLH Engineers provided mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering design services for the Southern Maryland Electrical Cooperative (SMECO) Engineering and Operations Center. This 166,000-square-foot facility, complete with a multi-tiered green roof, houses the headquarter offices for SMECO—one of the 15 largest electric cooperatives in the United States with more than 166,000 member accounts. To accommodate the needs of their members, the facility contains a 55-station, 8,500-square-foot data center with speech privacy features. The building also houses wash bays, a community center and emergency response capabilities.

The facility also includes multiple electrical service entrances, a 1.5-megawatt generator with multiple automatic transfer switches and built-in provisions for a second 1.5-megawatt generator to provide backup power to non-critical areas when budgets permit. A custom tap cabinet and transfer switch arrangement was engineered for a 1.5-megawatt mobile generator that the client owns, to provide redundancy for the critical operation areas generator. The facility was hardened in critical areas to protect against hurricanes. KLH also provided commissioning services.