U. power plant still lacks developer

The University still has not selected a developer to finance the construction of a $100-million power plant that will eventually provide nearly all the electricity and steam used on campus, administrators said this week. Vice President for Facilities Arthur Gravina said the University still is "in the process of truly understanding all of the elements" in proposals from three different developers that have been vying to build the plant for more than a year. About a year ago, the University narrowed the field from five teams to the current three. Administrators said at the time that they hoped to pick the final candidate sometime during the first three months of 1991. But Gravina said the complexity of the proposals has slowed the process, adding that he was not sure when the final selection will be made. He said once a team is picked, the design process will take 12 to 15 months, followed by two to three years of construction. "We would like to complete the process fairly soon, but we have been saying that for a while," Senior Vice President Marna Whittington said yesterday. "It is important that we complete [the selection process] as expeditiously as possible, but also as thoroughly as possible." Kemel Dawkins, the University's director of project management, said "a whole host of issues" has slowed progress on the cogeneration plant -- so called because it will use natural gas fuel to produce both electricity and steam energy simultaneously. Dawkins said the factors being examined include the experience of the developer team, the strength of its proposal, the probable reliability of the plant's service, and the "stream of benefits" the proposal would yield the University. Gravina said there are two main reasons the University is building the plant. First, he said the plant will be a reliable source of steam, meaning the University will no longer be affected by what some administrators have called inconsistent service and the occasional steam outages by Philadelphia Thermal Energy. Second, he said the plant will trim the University's huge utility costs, which have been costing the University about $30 million a year. Dawkins said it is unclear how great the savings would be since each of the proposals is different, but he added the cogeneration process is generally more efficient and less expensive than conventional production methods. Another reason the power plant would probably cut costs is that under the plan, the developer will sell the University electricity and steam at a discount after the plant begins functioning. In return, the University will promise to buy the utilities for several decades, making the investment profitable for the developer team, which would have to put up the $100 million in construction costs. Gravina said Murphy Field, located on the southern edge of campus near the Schuylkill River, has been selected as the site of the plant. The field currently is used as a practice field and the site of intramural sports events. Gravina called Murphy Field the "best of our available sites" and said the University's only expense would be giving up the use of that land. The developer would pay all of the design and construction costs. Dawkins said the Philadelphia Electric Company will not completely lose the University's business because the University will still rely on PECO for back-up energy. Administrators declined to name the three teams still in the running and said only that each had experience with constructing cogeneration plants in the past. The plant was first proposed in 1985 in a joint project with Amtrak. But in September 1989, the University and Amtrak broke off four years of protracted negotiations and the University started considering their own cogeneration plant. The cost of the plant has also risen from the original prediction of $40 million to $100 million.

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