SU rejects free steam proposal
Syracuse University recently refused an offer for free steam from Project Orange Associates.
In a Nov. 23 letter to SU Chancellor Nancy Cantor, Project Orange Associates president Adam Victor offered SU 20,000 pounds of steam an hour at no charge.
‘I’m befuddled as to why the university wouldn’t accept free steam,’ Victor said.
Kevin Morrow, a university spokesman, said in an e-mail to The Daily Orange, ‘Project Orange has repudiated its agreements with SU. Accordingly, the university is operating its steam plants.’
Project Orange ran the university’s Taylor Street steam operation until October, when Project Orange stopped production due to an increasingly contentious dispute over costs and faulty equipment.
The two parties sued each other last November and will meet in court Jan. 17. Project Orange has also asked the New York State Public Service Commission to regulate SU steam sales to its four non-profit customers: Crouse Hospital, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse VA Medical Center and Upstate Medical University. The offer likely would have lowered the price of steam for SU customers.
SU is currently producing steam with two boilers, built in 1929 and 1952.
Project Orange still produces electricity at its newer cogeneration plant. By running its turbines to create electricity, it also produces about 100,000 pounds of steam every hour as a byproduct, Victor said.
The majority of that steam can be fed back into the turbines to increase efficiency, Victor said, but 20,000 pounds are left over. That is why Project Orange offered free steam to SU.
‘It’s not costing us anything,’ Victor said. ‘It’s ridiculous that it’s going to be a waste of efficiency, basically warm water going down the drain.’
In the letter to Cantor, Victor estimated the value of the free steam at between $4 million and $6 million, annually. Those estimates are based on figures that the university contests in court documents.
SU uses an average of 80,000 pounds of steam an hour, including what it sells to its own customers, Victor said. That means the 20,000 pounds would fill one quarter of its demand.
Project Orange is offering the steam ‘on an interim or permanent basis,’ Victor said, and has not imposed a deadline on the university to accept.
Court documents allege that SU has been overcharging its customers for several years, according to an article The Daily Orange published Oct. 28.
‘The university got their hand caught in the cookie jar by Project Orange, and they want Project Orange to go away, and they’re taking their frustrations out on their customers because it’s going to increase the customers’ prices,’ Victor said.
The steam would possibly prevent the SU pipes from freezing in the event of an equipment problem, too, Victor said.
If SU does not take the extra steam, Project Orange plans to install a condenser that will convert the steam back to water and release it into the sewer system. The excess 20,000 pounds of steam is equal to about 2,400 gallons of water an hour.
Published on December 1, 2009 at 12:00 pm
