Steam production is essential to BYU Idaho’s operations. It is the only source of heat for campus buildings. The 50-year-old heating plant was nearing the end of its life, so in 2013 the university began to replace its coal-fired boilers with natural gas. In addition to the boilers, the 28,000-sq-ft cogeneration facility uses a 5-MW natural gas-fired combustion turbine to produce electricity. The project also includes an emergency generator with enough capacity to run the entire facility during a power-service interruption.

The old plant remained in operation without interruption through construction of the new facility until it was fully operational, then the existing plant was demolished and the administration wing of the new facility was added.

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