SEMO SEEKS $5.6 MILLION UPGRADE

Southeast Missouri State University wants to pull the plug on its current electrical power arrangement.

The school wants to upgrade its power plant and electrical distribution system at a cost of $5.6 million.

The improvements would allow the university to generate more of its own electrical power rather than relying almost entirely on Union Electric as is currently the case.

It also would allow the school to meet its power needs until 2012, including the added load that will be required when the new business building opens.

Plans call for renovating the electrical distribution system, primary feeder lines, two of the three boilers and two steam turbine generators.

Southeast has requested state funding to pay for the bulk of the cost, school officials told the Board of Regents Friday.

Ken Dobbins, the school's executive vice president, said Southeast hopes to receive about $4.5 million in state funding for the project over the next two years.

The remainder would be paid by the university's auxiliary services, such as the campus residence halls.

The engineering firm of Lutz, Daily and Brain of Overland Park, Kan., recently completed a yearlong study of the power plant.

Consultants estimated the university could save a minimum of $5.84 million over 20 years if it generates its own electricity.

Southeast pays about $1 million annually for UE power.

"It's a dollars and cents issue, but it is also reliable power," Dobbins said.

The improvements would allow the school to generate its own power or buy from UE, depending on which is the most economical.

The school expects it will be more economical to purchase power from UE during parts of the year.

Facilities Management Director Al Stoverink said, "What we are really trying to accomplish here is to establish reliability and have backup systems so that we don't have the power outages and brownouts that the campus has had to sustain for the last several years."

Southeast buys power from Union Electric. But during times of peak demand, UE requires the campus to generate some of its own power.

To do that, the university has had to shut down power to whole buildings at times because it couldn't generate sufficient power to serve the whole campus.

On top of that, the aging electrical distribution system is in need of a major overhaul.

The campus is served by a single power feed coming from the university's electrical substation just north of the power plant. The system also has varying voltage levels.

Dobbins compared the system to Christmas tree lights. "When you pull the plug, the lights all go off."

Southeast wants to establish a parallel power line so that electricity can be distributed to both the north and south ends of the campus through either of two lines.

The old 1950s-era electrical switch yard would be replaced. "They found that the substation needs major rebuilding," Dobbins said.

Surplus instrumentation from a World War II warship is still being used in some of the controls.

Dobbins compared the project to modernizing the electrical system in an older home.

The new substation would be encapsulated in steel cabinets, which would require less maintenance and be safer than the current facility, Stoverink said.

School officials said the aging coal-fired boilers -- one of which is 32 years old and the other, 22 years old -- need to be rebuilt regardless of the electrical power arrangement.

Southeast cools and heats with steam. But by repairing the two generators, Southeast also could use steam to generate electricity as originally designed.