Indiana University is planning a 10-year capital project at its Bloomington campus which will include a new combined heat and power (CHP) plant.
The CHP would provide electricity, heating and chilled water for IU facilities and also make the campus and its key research units more energy resiliency in the even of a utility grid blackout, officials said. The CHP re-do is part of a $65 million construction plant which also funds renovation of four research laboratories, according to the school.
The CHP is also part of a larger building goal as part of IU 10-year master plan.
The Indiana University Board of Trustees approved this CHP project and numerous other campus renovation as part of a larger legislative capital request. Campus leader regarded the R&D renovations and power plant as one of the main priorities for the proposed capital expenditures budget.
Once approved, some of the IU campus construction projects could start as early as 2024. Overall, the Bloomington campus has about 163 buildings.
Read more about Campus Energy projects in EnergyTech
Subscribe to our free, tri-weekly newsletter for more on the Mission Critical Energy Transition
Indiana University’s CHP boilers were coal-fired when the plant first entered operations in the 1950s, according to reports. Twenty years ago, the school converted some of those five boilers to be fired by natural gas, while the remaining coal-fired boilers utilized baghouses to reduce emissions.
Advocacy group the Combined Heat and Power Alliance has estimated there is about 2,600 MW of CHP installed generation capacity spread across nearly 280 college campuses. CHP facilities are seen as energy efficient, by many, because they utilize both heat and power generation.
Many of these plants are being shifted from coal and fuel oil to natural gas and biomass, which have much smaller carbon footprints. The campuses also are converting to on-site renewable energy such as rooftop solar and battery storage.
-- -- --
(Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. Walton is a resident in northeastern Oklahoma and based out of Tulsa. He can be reached at [email protected]).
