Ohio State power plant gets approval
A combined heat and power plant at Ohio State University can move forward, following approval by the Ohio Power Siting Board this week.
The board approved the facility, which the university has said will be the primary source of electricity and heating for its Columbus campus, Thursday afternoon.
The facility is part of a $278 million project that also will include district heating and cooling loop infrastructure and a new pedestrian bridge across the Olentangy River, according to Ohio State.
Ohio State has said the facility is the “cornerstone" of its energy plan and private energy partnership, and is needed to support its new inpatient hospital and buildings that will make up Ohio State’s West Campus innovation district.
“We are pleased with the Ohio Power Siting Board’s decision,” Ohio State spokesman Dan Hedman said in a written statement. “This is positive news as the Combined Heat and Power Plant will support the campus core and is expected to cut carbon emissions by more than 30% in its first full year of operations.”
The facility is planned for a corner of John H. Herrick Drive and Vernon L. Tharp Street near the Galbreath Equine Center. The plant would generate electricity with combustion turbines and then use exhaust heat to produce steam and heat water, which would be used to heat campus buildings.
The university will work to finalize a project timeline and share details as they become available, Hedman said.
The Sierra Club formally intervened in the case in March and criticized the proposed plant for relying on natural gas extracted through fracking.
The group, along with some students and residents, had questioned the facility and pushed for cleaner energy alternatives. The Sierra Club argued the proposed plant would rely on natural gas extracted through fracking, and conflicted with the goal of Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther to pursue a community-choice energy-aggregation program to reach 100% green power by 2022.
“This proposed plant represents a failure of climate and public health leadership from what is supposed to be Ohio’s flagship university and now the university community may have to (bear) the brunt of that failure for years to come,” Sierra Club’s Neil Waggoner said in a prepared statement.
The power siting board held multiple public hearings on the matter, as well as a virtual adjudicatory hearing in July. jsmola@dispatch.com @jennsmola