Case Study: State of Minnesota, Department of Transportation

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Cedar Avenue truck station is a key facility from which the department maintains the many state roads and highways in the Twin Cities metro area. Prior to the retrofit the building had an older fluorescent lighting system that was overlit and largely operated 24 hours a day without much automated lighting controls.

The Integrated Controls pilot program, co-funded by Xcel Energy and the US Department of Energy (DOE), could deliver deeper, more holistic energy retrofits. The MnDOT retrofit included a complete lighting retrofit with a luminaire-level lighting controls system, wireless outlet controls, and a tie from the lighting controls to the HVAC building automation system. This took advantage of the highly variable occupancy in the building to drive deeper energy savings.