Human Genome Sciences Manufacturing Facility, Rockville, MD
Electrical Alliance Contractor: |
Mona Electric Group, Inc. |
Mona Electric Group, Clinton, MD was recognized by the Washington Building Congress for construction of the Large Scale Manufacturing facility of Human Genome Sciences in Rockville, MD. This 300,000 square-foot, three story biotech manufacturing facility will house multiple production trains including medical and buffer prep, mammalian cell culture, harvest and recovery plus purification lines. This plant mission requires the use of two 20,000 liter bio-reactors, two liquid nitrogen cryo-freezers, three 1,500-ton chillers and three 27,500 pound-per-hour steam boilers, plus more than $50 million worth of other process equipment.
An Intense and Complex Electrical Infrastructure
The power requirements include 15kV service entry switchgear, three 2250 kW/15kV generators and two 480 kW rotary Uninterruptible Power Systems. This power is distributed through one 5kV substation, two 480V substations and two 3000 kVA and four 7500 kVA transformers. All these systems are controlled through a programmable logic controller.
No-Splice Requirement
The power is distributed throughout the building using a cable tray system to route multi-conductor tray cable supplying the electrical panels at load control centers. This tray able, typically 3 and 4 conductor 750 MCM, was prohibited from having any splice points. Most of the runs are in the 600 to 800 foot range, requiring an extreme level of planning, coordination and skill to install while complying with the "no-splice" requirement. The large pharmaceutical equipment is supplied by nine motor control centers with more than 80 variable frequency drives.