Eastern to build energy center
Cost for $40 million biofuel power plant will be recouped through cost savings
Issue date: 11/10/08 Section: News
Staff Report
Eastern will build a new $40 million power plant starting in the coming spring semester.
The Renewable Energy Center will replace the steam plant, which was built around 1925.
The center, which will be located off the intersection of 18th Street and Edgar Drive, will supply heat and cooling to the campus by burning plant matter, according to an Eastern press release distributed Friday.
The center will burn non-treated wood chips obtained as byproducts from the lumber industry.
Currently, the steam plant burns coal to supply heat and cooling to the campus. With wood chips, the center will reduce overall air emissions.
Four to five semi-trailers each day will deliver wood chips to the center. Additional trucks might deliver on Fridays, depending on Eastern's energy needs for that coming weekend, according to the press release.
Three informational meetings will be held to discuss the center. The first one is at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in Room 3080 of the Life Science Building. The second is at 10 a.m. Friday in the Charleston/Mattoon Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. The final meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 17 in Rotary Room A of the Charleston Public Library.
Eastern plans to spend $80 million on energy conservation projects, and construction of the center will use part of that money.
During this semester, Honeywell International conducted an energy audit to see where the university could best spend money for energy projects.
Along with the center, the audit revealed that electrical upgrades, upgrades to the university's electrical grid connection and the construction of a wind turbine farm would be viable options.
Prior to the audit, the university was trying to acquire $25 million from the state of Illinois to help pay for a $60 million co-generation plant that would produce electricity for the campus as well as heat and cool the campus. But with a capital projects bill for Illinois stalled in the General Assembly, Eastern announced plans for an energy audit in the summer.
Honeywell's suggestions - the center, electrical upgrades and wind turbines - are designed to pay for themselves through savings on utility and operational costs to Eastern. Bonds will be issued to raise the $80 million for the projects, and those bonds will be paid back through energy savings.
Eastern intends to have the Renewable Energy Center operating by Fall 2010.
The current steam plant has gone through recent breakdowns such as the failure of a coal boiler that resulted in an increase in heating costs last winter.
In August, Jeff Cooley, vice president for business affairs, said he was apprehensive about the operation of the steam plant during this winter.
"We'll do everything we can to keep it going … but I don't want to say that no questions, no problems that it is going to last because we had two catastrophic failures last year," Cooley said in August.
Comment:
There will be informational meetings at:
• 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Life Science Building Room 3080
• 10 a.m. Friday, Charleston/Mattoon Room in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.
• 6:30 p.m. Nov. 17, Charleston Public Library Rotary Room A.
-Staff Report
Eastern will build a new $40 million power plant starting in the coming spring semester.
The Renewable Energy Center will replace the steam plant, which was built around 1925.
The center, which will be located off the intersection of 18th Street and Edgar Drive, will supply heat and cooling to the campus by burning plant matter, according to an Eastern press release distributed Friday.
The center will burn non-treated wood chips obtained as byproducts from the lumber industry.
Currently, the steam plant burns coal to supply heat and cooling to the campus. With wood chips, the center will reduce overall air emissions.
Four to five semi-trailers each day will deliver wood chips to the center. Additional trucks might deliver on Fridays, depending on Eastern's energy needs for that coming weekend, according to the press release.
Three informational meetings will be held to discuss the center. The first one is at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in Room 3080 of the Life Science Building. The second is at 10 a.m. Friday in the Charleston/Mattoon Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. The final meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 17 in Rotary Room A of the Charleston Public Library.
Eastern plans to spend $80 million on energy conservation projects, and construction of the center will use part of that money.
During this semester, Honeywell International conducted an energy audit to see where the university could best spend money for energy projects.
Along with the center, the audit revealed that electrical upgrades, upgrades to the university's electrical grid connection and the construction of a wind turbine farm would be viable options.
Prior to the audit, the university was trying to acquire $25 million from the state of Illinois to help pay for a $60 million co-generation plant that would produce electricity for the campus as well as heat and cool the campus. But with a capital projects bill for Illinois stalled in the General Assembly, Eastern announced plans for an energy audit in the summer.
Honeywell's suggestions - the center, electrical upgrades and wind turbines - are designed to pay for themselves through savings on utility and operational costs to Eastern. Bonds will be issued to raise the $80 million for the projects, and those bonds will be paid back through energy savings.
Eastern intends to have the Renewable Energy Center operating by Fall 2010.
The current steam plant has gone through recent breakdowns such as the failure of a coal boiler that resulted in an increase in heating costs last winter.
In August, Jeff Cooley, vice president for business affairs, said he was apprehensive about the operation of the steam plant during this winter.
"We'll do everything we can to keep it going … but I don't want to say that no questions, no problems that it is going to last because we had two catastrophic failures last year," Cooley said in August.
Comment:
There will be informational meetings at:
• 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Life Science Building Room 3080
• 10 a.m. Friday, Charleston/Mattoon Room in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.
• 6:30 p.m. Nov. 17, Charleston Public Library Rotary Room A.
-Staff Report
The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this story