Ross Maintenance Headquarters

This facility is Bonneville Power Administration’s SW Washington base for transmission line and substation maintenance crews, substation operators, control technicians, and support engineers. The seven acre site includes a 15,700 SF office building and a 22,400 SF maintenance building for storage of vehicles and equipment.

The buildings are designed to the highest seismic resistance criteria for complete functionality after an earthquake to launch emergency repairs on transmission lines and substations. The HVAC and lighting systems are also seismically tested and certified to be immediately operable after a major quake.

Walls have R40 insulation and roofs have R60. Blower door tests and infrared cameras were used to ensure tight and fully insulated construction. Windows were manufactured with a “bird friendly” grid etched into the glass to prevent birds from colliding with the glass surfaces.

The office building uses radiant slab heating and cooling with DOAS ventilation and heat recovery via an ERV. The maintenance building uses infrared radiant heating in the vehicle storage and work bays and HVLS fans for cooling.

Each building has a modeled energy use index (EUI) of 30. The 300 KW photovoltaic array was sized to make the project net zero now on an annual basis.