About Facility
The Solar4America Ice Arena, located in San Jose, California, is a premier ice sports facility in the heart of Silicon Valley. Opened in 1994, this state-of-the-art arena has become a central hub for ice hockey, figure skating, and recreational skating in the region.
Boasting four NHL-sized rinks, Solar4America Ice Arena provides top-tier facilities for training, competitions, and public skating sessions. It serves as the official practice facility for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, reflecting its high standards and professional-grade amenities. The arena also supports local youth hockey programs, adult leagues, and figure skating clubs, fostering a vibrant community of ice sports enthusiasts.
In addition to its sports offerings, Solar4America Ice Arena hosts a variety of community events, from birthday parties to corporate outings, creating a welcoming environment for people of all ages and backgrounds. Its commitment to sustainability and innovation is evident in its use of solar power, aligning with San Jose’s green initiatives.
With its blend of world-class facilities, community engagement, and environmental consciousness, Solar4America Ice Arena stands as a landmark for ice sports and recreation in San Jose, enriching the lives of all who visit.
“I CAN’T HEAR WHAT JEREMY SAYS BECAUSE I HAVE MY TWO STANLEY CUP RINGS PLUGGED IN MY EAR.”
Patrick Roy- 1996 Stanley Cup Playoff
Scope of Work
Solar4America in San Jose is a non-stop facility, alive with community skating events, public skating, camps, youth and adult hockey games, etc. and is the largest indoor ice rink facility the Western United States. It is also serves as the training facility for the NHL San Jose Sharks, the AHL San Jose Barracuda, and the San Jose University Spartans hockey team. At the time of this renovation, the facility had 4 ice arenas and had plans for adding 2 more in the near future. Before looking too far ahead, there was a need to make improvements to the ice systems for Rinks 1 and 2. Rinks 1 and 2 were being served by a very efficient R-22 direct ice system that had well exceeded it expected and safe life.
B32 Engineering Group assisted the operational group in the design and construction administration services for a new ice system that included a common refrigeration system to serve the two ice rinks and two new concrete ice rink floors. The failure of the subfloor heating system in both ice rink floors allowed frost to build up under each ice rink floor 10 feet deep. B32 provided guidance on removing the frost during the demolishing phase as cost effectively and timely as possible using its extensive experience with frost removal. After discussing the refrigerant options for the new refrigeration system, a R-134a based refrigeration system was selected to serve these 2 rinks. With any renovation project come challenges and for this project the challenges included designing the new refrigeration system to fit in the existing refrigeration room, the new cooling tower to fit in the fixed space on the roof and a condensed project schedule required to meet the high demand for ice time. Careful planning was also required when designing the routing of the transmission mains in and around the existing building footings and walls. From start of construction to the start of skating on the new ice rink floors was 17 weeks. This very fast paced schedule required the experienced specialty services of B32 to stay on track, be flexible and make quick decisions and timely site visits during construction. The project was a huge success and met the Sharks Ice schedule and budget.