Waterford School powers smarter education with Torus

Waterford School, an independent K–12 in Sandy, Utah, is known for rigorous liberal arts education and hands-on learning. Its all-electric Murray Science Center doubles as a living lab — but underground geothermal heat pumps and VFD-driven HVAC create rapid load swings that strain the grid and spike demand charges. Waterford partnered with Torus to smooth peaks, correct power quality, and give students a live energy system to study — at no capital cost through Rocky Mountain Power's Wattsmart Battery Program.

1. Underground geothermal heat pumps and other electric building systems create rapid load swings during heating and cooling cycles, increasing demand charges on the school’s utility bill.
2. The Murray Science Center is an all-electric building running on variable frequency drives — these systems create uneven electrical loads that reduce efficiency and strain the grid.

1. Stored energy covers demand spikes from geothermal systems and VFDs, reducing average peak demand charges by an estimated 15% a month. 
2. Torus instantly corrects voltage sags, harmonics, and other power quality issues, protecting HVAC systems and lab equipment from power-related disruptions.

Under their utility plan, Schaeffer is charged a substantial fee for their peak power usage every month. Unsurprisingly, their top priority was addressing these unavoidable demand spikes from welding, cutting, and rolling operations.

Upon analyzing Schaeffer’s electricity load profile, two things became apparent: First, the energy peaks were huge. Second, Torus absolutely had the technology to help serve those peaks.

With Torus, Schaeffer no longer pulls as much power from the grid to perform these critical tasks. Instead, their system instantly discharges power when demand surges, covering those costly peaks with stored electricity. Their resulting savings are projected to total $25,000 a year in reduced demand charges alone. 

Waterford's Torus system feeds stored energy back to the grid during peak events — turning a heavy, variable campus load into a dispatchable resource for the utility. The campus runs cleaner and cheaper, and the local grid gets capacity without new infrastructure.

The utility gets a resource when demand runs hot. And the community benefits from a more stable grid.