UMass Amherst Dedicates $133 Million Central Heating Plant, Showcasing Green Energy Achievements on Campus

April 23, 2009

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Ed Blaguszewski 413/545-0444

AMHERST, Mass. – Officials at the University of Massachusetts Amherst today dedicated a state-of-the-art, $133 million Central Heating Plant, one of the cleanest-burning plants in the nation. The dedication represents a major step in transforming the 1,400-acre UMass Amherst campus into a statewide showcase for energy efficiency and environmentally progressive initiatives.

The combined cycle facility, which generates both electricity and steam, uses natural gas and oil and can be expanded with new equipment to burn biofuels such as wood chips, according to James Cahill, director of Facilities and Campus Planning. It replaces an obsolete, coal-burning facility dating back to 1918 and has reduced the campus’ greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 75 percent.

Ten years in the planning, the award-winning plant sets new standards for conservation in a number of areas. It recovers 80 percent of the energy used per pound of fuel consumed, twice the average of current power plants, and it will cut UMass Amherst’s carbon footprint by 30 percent. The plant will also conserve 65 million gallons of clean drinking water each year by using approximately 200,000 gallons of treated grey water daily from the Amherst wastewater treatment plant, rather than clean drinking water, to replace water lost in steam distribution and use.

“This first-rate building advances UMass Amherst’s leadership in higher education with development of one of the nation’s most efficient and environmentally friendly energy facilities,” says UMass Amherst Chancellor Robert C. Holub. “It also will contribute significantly to meeting the governor’s goals for reducing the carbon footprint of state facilities.”

Officials who joined Holub at the dedication ceremony included Jack M. Wilson, UMass president; Robert Sheridan, chairman of the UMass Building Authority; Edward W. Collins Jr., a member of the UMass Board of Trustees; Joyce M. Hatch, vice chancellor for administration and finance; Robert Thornton, president of the International District Energy Association, and Philip Giudice, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.

The new plant is located adjacent to the Amherst wastewater treatment plant on the western edge of campus, overlooking nearby recreational playing fields and the Mullins Center. Housed in a 45,000-square-foot building with a 95,000-square-foot “big roof” that covers the facility and associated storage tanks, the plant has the look of a field house. The design also features a south-facing glass wall to reduce winter heating costs.

The facility is designed to meet all the campus’ needs for steam and will be capable of producing 80 percent of its electrical load after an additional steam turbine is installed at the plant. UMass Amherst has more than 200 buildings and over 10 million square feet of space. Steam is delivered through more than 25 miles of pipes beneath the campus. The plant complies with some of the most rigorous air-quality requirements in the country and uses advanced combustion turbine burners and pollution-control equipment to significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. In 2008, the Combined Cycle Journal, a power plant publication, awarded the facility its Pacesetter Plant Award.

The plant has a 10-megawatt combustion gas turbine capable of producing 10 million watts of electricity at 13.8 kilovolts and a 4.5-megawatt steam turbine generator. A heat-recovery steam generator and three package boilers produce 450,000 pounds of steam per hour for on-campus consumption. Two 20-inch main steam transmission lines connect the plant to the existing campus steam distribution system.

The design was done by R.G. Vanderweil Engineers of Boston in association with Cambridge Seven Architects of Cambridge, BSC Group, McNamara/Salvia, Haley & Aldrich of Boston, and Earth Tech of Concord. It was built by O & G Industries of Torrington, Conn. with Tucker Mechanical and Griffin Electric as subcontractors for installation of the power plant equipment. The project groundbreaking occurred in May 2006.

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