Southeast Missouri State University is studying the possibility of generating more of its own electricity to meet its power needs.

A consulting firm is currently looking at that issue and what improvements would have to be made to the school's aging power plant.

"We are looking at our power plant and evaluating some things on whether we should co-generate electricity and how much we should do, if we do," said Ken Dobbins, Southeast's executive vice president.

Southeast's coal-fired boilers are used to generate steam for the campus' heating and air conditioning systems. The steam can also be used to power two turbines to generate electricity.

"We have an outside firm studying the (campus) utility system," he said.

The engineering firm of Lutz, Daily and Brain is looking at the whole utility issue, including projections on the future power needs of the university.

The study began in November and should be wrapped up by June. But the first phase of the study should be completed within the next 60 days, Al Stoverink, Southeast's physical plant director, said Friday.

Southeast is spending $46,000 on the first phase of the study. Scope and fees of the second phase have not been finalized, Stoverink said.

"The first phase will give us some preliminary information to make fundamental decisions about whether we will co-generate or not," he noted.

The second phase would include a detailed analysis of improvements that would need to be made to the existing power plant.

The whole issue is basically an economic one, he said.

"We are looking at the fundamental issue of, number one, to what extent do we rely on Union Electric for power. To what extent, can we generate power ourselves, economically?"

Stoverink said the study will look at all the alternatives, from the university purchasing all of its power needs to generating all its own power.

Even if the latter would occur, the school would still want to be connected to the UE system for a backup source of power, he noted.

There's also the potential of buying power from other utilities and bringing it in over UE's lines, said Stoverink.

The university currently buys most of its electricity from Union Electric at a cost of about $1 million a year, Stoverink said.

Southeast does generate some electrical power, but only during peak-demand times.

"We are under a rate structure where we pay basically a demand charge for a guaranteed amount of power," said Stoverink.

"If we can reduce or eliminate that, that would represent some significant savings," he maintained.

"It's also a quality and reliability issue too," said Stoverink. "For example, this past week, Union Electric had to go on a power curtailment so we were faced with having to cut back power consumption right in the middle of very severe weather.

Stoverink said UE cut back its power to the university Tuesday evening. The curtailment lasted until about 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Fortunately for Southeast, the curtailment came during the evening hours when campus offices are closed and there are typically fewer power demands, he noted.

Southeast was able to make up for the curtailment with the use of a small diesel generator.

Power demands increased rapidly Wednesday morning as "buildings cranked up" and classes began, Stoverink said. But then, UE resumed providing a full supply of electricity to the campus.

While the university managed to get by this time, the power curtailment prompted by the winter cold, raises a concern.

"You don't want to have to be shutting operations down and be in that kind of a situation," said Stoverink.

But he said, "We are not in a position, without doing some significant repairs, to be able to generate our entire power load on a regular basis."

The peak electrical load on the Southeast campus amounts to about 6,500 kilowatts an hour.

Even under current operating conditions, there is a need for some improvements. One of the main boilers in the plant is 30 years old and in need of a major overhaul, which it's estimated would cost about $212,000.

Stoverink said the university is looking at the entire electrical distribution system on campus in regards to meeting power needs for the next decade.

As Southeast moves ahead with efforts to boost enrollment and campus growth continues, the university needs to see that it has a utility system in place to accommodate such growth, he said.