Engine to power one-third of campus

A four-inch natural gas pipeline is all it's going to take to fuel UCF's ambitions to save money while producing one-third of the campus's energy requirements.

The engine, which is being built by Mitsubishi Power systems in Japan, and its housing structure will cost $9.2 million. The structure is being built by UCF. The plant is expected to be ready in December after the engine's delivery.

David Norvell, the director of Sustainability & Energy Management at UCF, said that the project will provide the main campus with one-third of its energy needs.

The engine itself measures 30 feet by 10 feet wide and will be mostly autonomous. Other than maintenance work, the engine will require very little human interaction.

For UCF, the cheap cost of natural gas, coupled with low price volatility and transportation costs, prompted the move.

Norvell said that the wellhead for the natural gas is located in Louisiana and is transported along an interstate transport system to Central Florida.

The pipe feeding into UCF is four inches in diameter, which will transport the highly pressurized natural gas.

"The natural gas pipelines are a very efficient way to move energy," Norvell said. "Things like gasoline are the least efficient, where we haul our gasoline with trucks."

Currently, UCF purchases all of its power from Progress Energy.

"There's a couple of problems with that," Norvell said.

The first issue is that a traditional power plant based on any fossil fuel source is about 30 percent efficient. The excess energy is wasted as heat, usually to the environment.

The second is that the plants have to transmit that power over long distances and as they do so, 10 percent of that power is lost in transmission.

"Immediately because it's located on campus, we can forget about the transmission losses," Norvell said. "The bigger benefit is that we're taking that waste heat and recapturing it and using it for something useful."

A press release by Mitsbishi Power Systems describes UCF's new engine as a "combined heat and power system." Norvell said that heat can't be moved far, making it difficult for large power plants to reuse it.

By using the excess heat produced by the new engine, Norvell expects about 1,000 tons of refrigeration to be produced, which is about a tenth of what UCF uses on a summer day.

Mitsubishi expects the reduced CO2 emissions, cheaper operational costs and advantage of recaptured heat will further  U.S. interest in its power plants.

While the total cost of the project is $9.2 million, UCF hopes to save $2.4 million per year in comparison to the current power deal with Progress Energy.

UCF will spend $2.8 million per year on natural gas.

Dustin Jackson, the assistant director of Sustainability & Energy Management, said that the expected savings that the project will produce are substantial for UCF.

"The distribution costs are all fixed, so the only thing that changes is the price of natural gas," Jackson said. "However, natural gas is not a regulated commodity and can be bought on the open market."

When asked about the risks associated with a possible rise in natural gas prices, both Norvell and Jackson said that UCF could buy natural gas in the futures market in order to protect its investment, if necessary.

UCF pays Progress Energy through a metering system. Progress Energy has been informed that the new engine will reduce UCF's need for external electricity.

Progress Energy will provide backup power in the event that the new engine needs to undergo maintenance. Usage is monitored in real-time, so Progress Energy can automatically fill in, even in unforeseen circumstances.

Alexandra Kennedy, of the Department of Sustainability & Energy Management, said that natural gas, in comparison to other fossil fuels, is the cleanest burning fossil fuel.

"The contribution to UCF in having this power plant would be reducing our environmental impact," Kennedy said. "It's the cleaner and go-to energy source."

Kennedy also said that UCF is aiming to reduce 30 percent of its environmental impact by using natural gas.

"I think UCF is really aggressive as far as being a sustainable campus," Kennedy said.

The new power engine, which will be located at the corner of Libra Drive and Gemini Boulevard, will have a relatively small footprint in comparison to the other, larger industrial structures there.

Norvell said that some of the costs associated with building the structure surrounding the engine have been dedicated to sound isolation because of the noise from the engine.

This industrial region of campus is located directly next to the Libra Community dorms.