Morgantown

Servicing 9.9 million square feet of space in Morgantown with sustainable district energy.

Through an acquisition, Vicinity owns and operates Morgantown Energy Associates, the district energy system serving West Virginia University (WVU) in Morgantown, West Virginia. Located on the banks of the Monongahela River, the system was constructed and began servicing WVU in 1992, historically burning coal as its primary fuel supply to distribute steam through a 2.25-mile underground distribution system.

Vicinity is converting the existing natural gas fired infrastructure to dual fuel with ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) as backup and will install two additional dual fuel boilers to the plant. Vicinity ceased coal operations in June 2020 and will primarily burn natural gas to meet the heating, cooling, domestic hot water and sterilization needs of the University and Medical Center’s footprint of 9.8 million square feet, eliminating approximately 50 percent of the steam system’s carbon footprint. This will further improve air quality for WVU by significantly reducing other air pollutants and removing 4,800 truckloads of coal from the roads every year.

50%

Reduction in the steam system’s carbon footprint

4,800

Truckloads of coal removed from the roads every year

9.8 million

Square feet of educational and medical space served

Investing in District Energy

By centralizing and aggregating the production of heat, hot and chilled water to multiple buildings, district energy cuts down on the amount of fuel that would be required by individual buildings using onsite generation, and the resulting carbon emissions. Furthermore, it allows for faster, more complete transitions to clean energy options as they become available. District systems and infrastructure can easily be updated to integrate new technologies and/or renewable fuels that benefit a great number of buildings in a geographic footprint. This allows for carbon footprint reductions at a scale that would be impossible to achieve on an individual basis.

Learn more about the benefits of District Energy

How District Energy Works

District energy is an innovative and resilient energy solution that uses a centrally located facility, or facilities, to generate thermal energy—heat, hot water or chilled water—which is then transported through highly insulated underground pipes directly to nearby buildings, avoiding the need for boilers, chillers and cooling towers in individual buildings. Watch the video to learn more about how district energy works.

What is District Energy?