Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium optimize visitors’ experiences with district energy

The customer

Located in downtown Baltimore, Oriole Park at Camden Yards became the official home of the Baltimore Orioles on April 6, 1992. Since then, more than 72 million fans have attended Orioles’ games, and millions more have attended concerts, festivals, meetings, tours, and community events held at the retro-style ballpark. 

Adjacent to Oriole Park is M&T Bank Stadium, a multi-purpose football arena and home to the Baltimore Ravens since its construction in 1998. It’s one of the most praised stadiums in the NFL for amenities, ease of access, concessions, and other facilities. 

As two of the most preeminent sports stadiums in the country, both facilities are LEED Gold certified (Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance) and feature state-of-the-art amenities. The stadiums are owned by Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA), a public corporation of the state that plans, finances, builds, and manages sports facilities, convention centers, entertainment venues, and other projects. MSA aims to promote historic preservation, adaptive reuse, community redevelopment, cultural arts, and civic pride throughout the state with its projects.  

The challenge 

Both stadiums leveraged the Baltimore district energy network for heating and domestic hot water for nearly 30 years since they opened. However, shortly after the construction completed on Oriole Park at Camden Yards, MSA sought an efficient cooling solution to support both stadiums. MSA needed an energy solution that would keep guests and employees comfortable in the various amenity spaces, including locker rooms, restaurant/café, suites, press areas, special event space and offices. 

The solution 

Rather than investing in chillers and cooling towers at both stadiums, the Maryland Stadium Authority decided to construct its own central chilled water facility that could simultaneously cool both stadiums due to their proximity. MSA supplemented its cooling with Vicinity’s chilled water system for the historic 45,000 square foot gateway station and museum located at the opening gates of Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Driving reliability to guarantee optimal event experiences  

As the home for many events that draw large crowds, uninterrupted service is of utmost importance to MSA. Vicinity offers 99.99% uptime energy delivery through interconnected central energy facilities with multiple power supplies, back-up generation, and several water and fuel sources in the event of interruptions to other utilities. Also, Vicinity’s network incorporates thermal storage systems that produce chilled water from ice made using off-peak electricity—taking pressure off electrical grids during summer peak capacity periods and helping reduce electric capacity charges. With both Vicinity’s steam and chilled water, MSA can rest assured that staff and visitors are comfortable year-round, and there are no disruptions to events.  

Minimizing carbon impact 

The partnership between MSA and Vicinity drives efficiency and sustainability, lowering the stadiums’ carbon footprint. Vicinity leverages renewables to generate approximately 50% of the steam delivered to Baltimore customers and 100% carbon-free electricity via emission-free energy certificates (EFECs), enabling the two stadiums to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Even better, as Vicinity progresses its electrification strategy and incorporates new technologies at Maryland’s central facilities, the MSA can continue to promote sustainability at these two stadiums.

Benefits