Tuesday, April 28, 2009 10:15 PM CDT
EIU buying boiler for steam plant, to be moved later to energy center
By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
nwest@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Although Eastern Illinois University’s Renewable Energy Center is only on paper, the Board of Trustees gave the go-ahead Monday to purchase a gas-fired boiler that eventually would be moved to the eco-friendly heating and cooling facility to be built on the east edge of Charleston.
The new boiler is slated to be installed and used temporarily in the existing coal-fired steam plant in the middle of campus. The boiler would be relocated to the Renewable Energy Center once it is built.
Plans for constructing the center were put on hold because of the economic climate and sluggish credit market, although EIU officials have been revamping the design for the new steam plant to address concerns of area residents.
The new plant would superheat “biomass” plant matter chips and turn them into gas, which then would be burned in boilers to create steam to be piped to the rest of the campus. EIU officials said the Renewable Energy Center would prove far easier on the environment and cheaper to maintain than the existing steam plant, which was built in 1925 and is becoming increasingly unreliable.
“It is held together literally with duct tape,” said Paul McCann, EIU treasurer and interim vice president for Business Affairs. “The boilers at the steam plant are on life support.”
He said the gas-fired boiler to be installed this fall in the aging steam plant would replace a boiler from the late 1960s. The new boiler would be able to handle all of the campus’ heating and cooling needs during normal periods, and two-thirds of the load at peak times, McCann said.
The university is tapping the campus improvement fee to help pay for the $1,098,700 boiler, accessories and delivery, although other funding options are also being explored, said McCann.
EIU President Bill Perry told the board that installing the new boiler in the current plant “in no way” lessens the university’s commitment to building the Renewable Energy Center.
The new boiler would be “a patch on a system we know needs to be replaced,” Perry said.
The winning vendor for the boiler was CB Nebraska Boiler in Lincoln, Neb., which submitted a bid of $998,800.
Other bidders were Babcock & Wilcox of West Point, Miss., for $1,128,700; Rentech Boiler Systems Inc. of Abilene, Texas, for $1,189,618; and Indeck Power Equipment Co. of Wheeling for $1,194,801.
EIU has modified plans for the Renewable Energy Center to address concerns of residents in the Edgar Drive neighborhood where the plant would be located. The new design positions the facility farther from 18th Street than before, with an access road for supply trucks to be built along Edgar Drive. Additionally, two 45-foot biomass storage silos would be installed instead of just one 80-foot silo served by an even taller elevator.
Meanwhile, a proposed law in Springfield would allow EIU to borrow money to construct the center, which is expected to save money because it would be more efficient and the university would not have to purchase coal anymore.
Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.
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