The energy-making capacity at Saint John’s University is about to get a giant boost thanks to the new steam turbine generator (STG) that was installed inside the power house on campus Tuesday (Dec. 16).
The skid containing the STG – which weighed in at 37,500 pounds – was lowered by crane then wheeled into place in its new home atop a gigantic concrete slab, marking a huge milestone in a project that has been underway since the older (and much smaller) turbine was decommissioned four years ago.
The project is a joint partnership between the university and the Saint John’s Abbey. The STG being replaced dated back to the 1950s.
“It was at the end of life, so we decommissioned it in 2021,” CSB and SJU Chief Facilities and Resilience Officer Russ Klein said. “After a year of discernment, we determined that even after all these years, our approach still made sense. We moved into design in 2023 with the intent to preserve that foundation, but to add a contemporary twist and benefit from advances in technology.”
The new STG is expected to be operational in April. Once that happens, it will allow Saint John’s to generate nearly 35 percent of its electricity through the steam produced as a byproduct of heating and cooling.
“The benefit is that it allows us to reduce expense and it does so in a way that’s both sustainable and operationally efficient,” Klein said.
“Then there’s the part that people don’t see, which is the resiliency benefit. When we lose power from Xcel Energy, we not only have our diesel backups, but we have the STG that doesn’t shut off. We produce steam reliably in all conditions. Even during the hardest weather, the system continues to operate as designed, which means that when all components are functioning properly, we should not experience electrical outages.”
The STG project also qualifies for the Investment Tax Credit. This is part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which allows nonprofits to rebate up to 30 percent of a project’s cost.
“Overall, we’re going to be reducing our expenses while improving our resiliency to factors mostly out of our control,” Klein said. “This project is an exemplar of financial and operational excellence.”
Just preparing for the STG’s arrival Tuesday was a six-month process. It was manufactured in India, then shipped first to Pennsylvania and on to Michigan for packaging. It was then transported to Saint John’s where it was lowered to be rolled into place by a 350-ton crane.
In addition to the turbine, a new 15,0000-pound transformer is being set in place as well.
“It took a lot of prep work to get us to this point,” Klein said. “We had to pour a massive concrete slab because this (STG) is so much heavier and we needed to spread its weight across a large area. The floor (inside the power house) was reinforced. But we also had to shore up the pathway we were rolling it over from underneath as well. Then there was a lot of prepping of the electrical switch gear.
“So this was a pretty big undertaking.”
