PSU weighs cleaner energy

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Anne Danahy

Penn State is looking into options for switching its west campus power plant from coal to a greener fuel source in a potentially expensive move the university plans to decide on next year.

Steve Maruszewski, deputy associate vice president for Physical Plant, said a decision has not been made about which fuel source the upgraded plant will use, but he said a switch of sources is likely. He said the university is looking at anything that’s viable, including natural gas and biobased fuels such as those generated from switchgrass or byproducts of food sources.

“While the plant has served the campus well, it is clear that more significant changes to its operation need to occur, which includes dramatically reducing our overall emissions that will likely require switching fuel sources,” Maruszewski said in a news release.

Construction is slated to start as early as 2012.

A cost estimate was not available and the price will vary depending on which option the university chooses. But, a Physical Plant spokesman previously said that replacing the plant while using the existing distribution system could cost $150 million or more. Maruszewski said plant modification at the University of Wisconsin cost

upward of $250 million.

The university would probably have to borrow money to pay for the project, according to a spokeswoman, but will look for other funding sources, such as grants, once the plans are in place.

Penn State cited a need for reliable heat and its efforts to cut its carbon dioxide emissions, along with its desire to be a leader in making the campus environmentally friendly, as reasons behind the project. It is part of the campus energy master plan that the university is in the process of updating. Penn State has a goal of cutting emissions 17.5 percent by 2012.

The coal-fired plant on Burrowes Road is almost 80 years old. Its distribution system provides steam heat to about 270 buildings on campus.

It has been a magnet for criticism this semester. A student group that is part of a larger, multi-university effort by the Sierra Club, has held several rallies urging Penn State to stop using coal.

Rose Monahan, a sophomore and a leader of Penn State Beyond Coal said while the university hasn’t said specifically what the fuel source will be, the group thinks it is great news.

“It definitely says the administration is taking some concrete steps and looking at what the fuel source is now and what the options are,” Monahan said.

She said the group is scheduled to meet with President Graham Spanier Nov. 30 to discuss the subject.

When asked if the anti-coal student effort was a factor in deciding to move forward with the plan, Maruszewski said that the university “has been engaged in this master planning process for years, it’s an ongoing process.”

“We’ve been aggressively looking at it since 2005, reviewing the available technologies for consideration, and to date we’ve not been satisfied that the technologies that have been presented have been fully vetted in the industry to ensure they’ll be able to satisfy a 24-hours-a-day, 365- days-a-year operation,” he said.

However, the student protests, “likely caused us to make our plans more public,” he added.

He said that more technologies are getting tested in the market and proving to be reliable, such as biofuels and gasification, which can use biomass or municipal waste as a fuel source. The University of Iowa, for example, works with Quaker Oats to turn leftover oat hulls into fuel, and University of Wisconsin recently moved to a biobased power plant.

Anne Danahy can be reached at 231-4648.