Power Distribution Design

The Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center is a 27,000-square-foot multi-use facility that blends sustainability, education, and hospitality. More than a rest stop, the center houses interpretive museum displays, the Wyoming Office of Tourism, and warehouse space for the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

RMH worked closely with the owner and design team to deliver a highly energy-efficient building powered by renewable resources. Photovoltaic panels installed on the roof and walls generate 27 kW of electricity, while five on-site wind turbines contribute additional zero-emissions power, offsetting over half of the building’s electrical demand.

To maximize HVAC efficiency, RMH designed a ground source heat pump system with more than 11 miles of geo-exchange coils buried beneath the 26.6-acre site. This system leverages the earth’s stable temperature to provide reliable heating and cooling year-round.

Our team engineered thermal displacement ventilation in public and office areas to improve indoor air quality and occupant comfort. This low-energy system introduces air at floor level, allowing it to rise naturally and exit through ceiling vents. Daylight harvesting strategies, supported by the building’s long axis and narrow footprint, reduce reliance on electric lighting. High-efficiency fixtures and controls supplement natural light when needed.

Photo credit: AndersonMasonDale Architects and Sampson Construction

The expanded Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at St. Francis Medical Center offers an exceptional level of care for infants born before 32 weeks of gestation, those weighing less than 3.3 pounds, or critically ill babies who require breathing assistance. The expanded NICU includes several enhancements:

Increased capacity from 30 to 46 beds
Two couplet rooms, allowing mothers and their babies to stay together while receiving expert, round-the-clock care. At the time, the St. Francis Medical Center’s NICU was the only one in Colorado and only the fourth in the nation to feature couplet rooms.
Additional space for caring for multiples, such as twins and triplets
Advanced room lighting designed to support and stimulate infants’ circadian rhythms
A family sleeping area with privacy partitions and fully private restrooms
An outdoor patio and wellness garden
A NICU family lounge for families of patients to connect with others in similar situations
A dedicated breast milk storage room
A family pre-discharge room to help parents prepare for returning home

The NICU expansion was the first phase of a multi-part project comprising 168,000 square feet and costing $102 million. This project also included a new emergency department, operating rooms, antepartum rooms, and space for future growth. RMH is serving as the project’s mechanical and electrical engineer, as well as the lighting designer.

Danone, one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies, completed a renovation to consolidate two separate office spaces into a unified 36,000-square-foot building. This transformation aimed to accommodate the evolving demands of the workplace and to support a growing number of employees working hybrid schedules. The new design provided flexible office spaces for employees, allowing them to work collaboratively regardless of their positions. The project team completed while the facility was fully operational.

RMH delivered comprehensive demolition design drawings and executed electrical load and lighting calculations for the electrical design. Our team designed power systems to support collaborative spaces, a coffee bar, and computer equipment. We also implemented interior lighting and controls that complied with local building codes, updated the existing power distribution system diagram, and prepared a fire alarm performance specification.

On the mechanical side, RMH produced demolition design drawings and conducted HVAC load calculations while modifying air distribution, heating water piping, and DDC controls to accommodate the new layout, including large conference rooms, collaboration areas, and open and individual office spaces. RMH designed the mechanical system to incorporate rooftop units with VAV and fan-powered VAV boxes. Additionally, we developed a fire protection performance specification to ensure the safety and efficiency of the renovated space.

At NREL’s Flatiron Campus, cutting-edge research focuses on testing emerging wind technologies and accelerating their market availability. Researchers conduct a series of tests and accurate transient simulation studies to understand how individual wind turbines handle grid disturbances. Field testing wind turbines can be both expensive and time-consuming.

RMH’s Controllable Grid Interface Row 1 (CGI-1) test system design supports this process by significantly reducing the time and cost of testing wind turbines by enabling controlled laboratory testing. The 9 MW CGI combines hardware and real-time control software, operating with existing 2.5 MW and 5 MW dynamometer facilities (also partially designed by RMH). This setup simulates grid disturbances on wind turbine terminals and estimates the impacts of turbine responses on the grid. The CGI test system project created the first U.S. test facility with fault-simulation capabilities and the only system globally fully integrated with two dynamometers designed to work with four types of wind turbines, including the largest wind turbine drivetrains used in land-based markets. The CGI-2 project enhanced the campus’s capabilities by increasing connected grid power from 9 MW to 19.9 MW, complying with local utility requirements.

RMH also designed the electrical and communications infrastructure to connect dynamometers used for testing wind turbine drivetrain components with the grid and fault simulation areas. This infrastructure features ride-through capability and safely withstands abnormal grid conditions such as faults. RMH configured the CGI system flexibly to connect multiple test objects, including utility-scale wind turbines, other renewable energy generation systems like photovoltaic arrays, and grid-scale energy storage units.