Every summer, UCLA's campus generates an enormous amount of heat — from packed lecture halls and research labs to the Los Angeles sun beating down on 12 million square feet of buildings. The invisible heroes keeping everyone comfortable are the campus chillers: large industrial machines that produce cold water and pump it through buildings to power air conditioning systems.
This summer, the Energy Services team has completed the most comprehensive chiller maintenance and upgrade program in recent memory. Here is a plain-language look at what was done, what is coming, and what it means for the campus community.
The Big Chillers: Major Overhaul at the Cogeneration Plant
At the heart of campus sits the Energy Systems Facility on Charles E. Young Drive. Inside, massive industrial chillers called York centrifugal units have been cooling the campus for decades. Think of them like the engines of a very large air conditioner. This past winter and spring, Roger Jasper led the Cogen team — including Ivan Katz — in taking these machines apart and rebuilding them from the inside out.
Four major work packages were completed or are nearing completion:
- New condenser tubes — The condenser is the part of the chiller that releases heat. Ours had years of buildup inside hundreds of small copper tubes, reducing efficiency and restricting capacity. Every tube was removed and replaced with new ones — the machine now cools more effectively and uses less energy to do it.
- Modern controls — The old control panels were decades old. They were replaced with modern digital controllers, allowing the plant team to monitor and adjust the chillers remotely and respond faster to any issue.
- Compressor rebuild — in progress — The compressor is the pump at the core of the chiller. Ours were disassembled for inspection, revealing worn parts that need specialized replacement components. These parts are no longer manufactured, so sourcing takes time — the overhaul will be completed once they arrive.
- Turbine service — Steam from the power plant drives the chillers' internal turbines. Each turbine was inspected, cleaned, rebalanced, and tested.
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Campus Building Chillers: YRL and Bunche Hall Serviced
Not all campus chillers live at the power plant. Many buildings have their own units. This season, two high-use academic buildings received focused maintenance:
- Young Research Library (YRL) — The Young Research Library runs year-round and serves students, faculty, and researchers around the clock. Its chiller received a full inspection and overhaul of internal components, a refrigerant check, and a recommissioning of its controls to ensure it is ready for the long, hot summer ahead.
- Bunche Hall — A busy hub for social sciences, Bunche Hall hosts classrooms and offices with heavy daily use through the summer. The chiller in this building was inspected and overhauled from top to bottom — mechanical components checked, cooling tower connections verified, and control settings confirmed.
CRU-B: Major Work Completed, Final Phase Underway
CRU-B — Centrifugal Refrigeration Unit B — is one of the large steam-driven chillers at the Cogeneration Facility. It underwent a major overhaul completed in April 2026, with Roger Jasper leading the Cogen team — including Ivan Katz — on the effort. Work completed included a full condenser retube, controls modernization, and turbine service. The final piece — the compressor overhaul — is awaiting specialized parts, which are being sourced now.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR CAMPUS: CRU-B is back in service and running well. Once the compressor parts arrive and that final phase is complete, the unit will be restored to peak capacity — providing more reliable cooling for years to come.
Extra Cooling Power: Two Rental Chillers Arriving This July
On the hottest summer days — especially when the state electrical grid is under stress — the team needs every bit of cooling capacity available. This July, two large trailer-mounted rental chillers will be delivered to campus. Each one is a 400-ton unit about the size of a semi-truck trailer, capable of producing enough cold water to cool a large building on its own.
- Royce Hall (340 Royce Dr.) — This is the team's established rental unit, returning for another season. It provides extra cooling capacity in the Royce Hall area during peak demand and campus events.
- Cogeneration Facility (721 Charles E. Young Dr. S.) — NEW this year — This year, a second rental unit is being added directly at the Cogeneration Plant — a new addition to the program, procured by Ivan Katz and the Cogen team. Placing a rental chiller at the plant gives operators maximum flexibility: if a permanent plant chiller needs to come offline unexpectedly, the rental can step in immediately to keep campus cool without interruption.
Both units arrive on their own trailers and connect to the campus chilled-water system with large flexible hoses. A security fence surrounds each unit while on site.
The Future: Planning for More Permanent Cooling Capacity
Rental chillers are a smart short-term solution, but the long-term answer is permanent capacity. In March 2026, Michael Bellardine and the Energy Services team, led by Sean Wilder, presented a proposal to campus leadership to install a brand-new electric chiller inside the Cogeneration Facility. The new machine would increase campus cooling capacity by approximately 15% — enough to support campus growth — while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with UCLA's Climate Action Plan.
An evaluation of available chiller options is underway. The next step is completing an engineering feasibility study and moving the project through the appropriate campus approval process. More details will be shared as the project advances.
