Pennsylvania State University Steam Plant

Pennsylvania State University's West Campus Steam Plant consumes about 75,000 tons of coal per year, and produces about 20,000 MWh per year, or 7%, of the campus's electricity demand - as well as about 175 tons of steam per hour, which is used for heating campus buildings. Built in 1929, the plant holds four boilers, and burns coal from Clarion County, Pennsylvania. (Several solar panels on the roof of the Office of Physical Plant building only produce enough electricity to power several rooms within that building.)

In January 2011, it was announced that the campus would be spending $25 million to $35 million to convert the coal plant to natural gas to reduce carbon emissions. The university has been considering its options for upgrading the coal-fired plant since 2009 in anticipation of stiffer EPA regulations. The coal to gas conversion will impact the operation of both the West and East Campus steam plants. The West Campus steam plant provides heat and power to 270 campus buildings. It houses four 1960s-era coal-fired boilers and one 1947 boiler already converted to natural gas. The East Campus plant opened in 1972 and provides steam during peaking.

Other electricity use for campus
Penn State buys 89% of its electricity from Allegheny Energy, which in turn gets 95% of its electricity production from coal-fired power plants. In an interview in 2003, Paul Ruskin, the spokesperson for the Office of Physical Plant, stated that "we would like to have totally non-polluting sources, but they're not out there yet."

Plant Data

 * Name: West Campus Steam Plant
 * Location: West Park Ave. and North Burrowes St., State College, PA 16803
 * Energy Source: Bituminous coal
 * Capacity: N/A
 * Year(s) Built: 1929
 * Electricity Production: ca. 20,000 MWh
 * CO2 Emissions: ca. 20,000 tons/year
 * SO2 Emissions: N/A

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Campus coal plants
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Opposition to existing coal plants
 * Coal
 * Coal and jobs
 * Coal-fired power plant capacity and generation
 * Coal phase-out
 * Coal plant conversion projects
 * Coal plants near residential areas

External resources

 * Anne C. Mulkern, "Colleges Are Battlegrounds for Coal Fight," Greenwire, October 14, 2009.
 * Campuses Beyond Coal Campaign, Sierra Club, September 2009.
 * "DOE Announces Winners of Annual University Coal Research Grants," July 7, 2005.
 * American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment