Sunday, November 22, 2009 9:33 PM CST
Eastern digs into new energy option
University breaks ground for biomass power plant
By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer
hmeeker@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Turning the dirt Friday for the new biomass-fueled energy plant at Eastern Illinois University was easy.
But getting to that point required a collaborative effort, stretching from Eastern’s Old Main, the campus student government office and a Charleston neighborhood to Springfield.
It all started several years ago with trying to solve an energy problem, and the planners were not daunted by the idea of making the impossible possible. In less than two years, the facility will be operating on a 320-acre site on the southeast corner of the college campus, on Illinois Route 130 and Edgar Drive.
“It took a village to make this project possible. And what a village!” said Eastern president Bill Perry during the ground-breaking ceremony at the site of the plant that will burn wood chips for gasification to create steam for the campus.
The renewable energy project will reduce Eastern’s electricity use by 6.2 million kilowatt hours per year, and remove about 20,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, based on Environmental Protection Agency figures.
Honeywell International will oversee the construction of the center, as well as the installation of agreed-upon energy conservation measures on the broader campus at EIU. In total, the project will cost $80 million, and the energy center is estimated to cost about two-thirds of that total.
The new facility will produce the university’s heating and cooling needs through an environmentally-acceptable method.
Honeywell guarantees Eastern a cost savings equal to or greater than the annual cost of financing the project. Annual energy savings of less than the guaranteed amount would be supplemented by Honeywell, and that supplement would be used to repay amounts financed, officils said.
“This is truly a wonderful day and it’s not everyday you can be part of a project this size that is truly renewable,” said Paul Bardon, Honeywell vice president and general manager of the Americas, which covers operations in Canada and Latin America in addition to the United States.
Right now, the project, expected to provide heating by the fall of 2011, has a flexible future, said Gary Reed, director of facilities planning and management. Small wood chips harvested from lumbering operations will provide the fuel when the facility is operative at first, but that fuel source could be replaced.
“Micanthus is one locally-grown option. We’re looking at research with that plant that is like bamboo and grows up to 11 feet tall,” Reed said.
Another fuel source could also come from the surrounding countryside: corn stalks cut and compressed into pellets.
“Without a market you don’t get the research to perfect this. We’re hoping this plant can help drive a local market for agriculture products that can provide fuel,” Reed said.
The energy plant will replace the 84-year-old steam plant that has been powered by coal for most of its history. Problems with prohibitive costs on repairing the old plant started the search for a solution that led to the biomass option for an environmentally-clean facility that was cost effective.
“We found a way to do this with the performance contract with Honeywell. That way we could afford it without raising tuition or taxes,” Reed said.
Contact Herb Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.
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Fisherman52 wrote on Nov 22, 2009 11:57 AM: