The West Virginia Board of Governors agreed Friday at a special meeting to amend its agreement with Morgantown Energy Associates to buy steam from its plant on Beechurst Avenue.
The move was made in response to the plant beginning the process of converting from a coal-fired facility to one that runs on natural gas, a conversion that will save WVU a still unspecified amount of money, said Rob Alsop, WVU’s vice president for Strategic Initiatives.
The university’s current agreement expires April 2027.
MEA will continue using the coal-fired boilers to supply steam to the university until it completes installation of equipment to replace them. When that is done, the coal-fired boilers will be retired.
“We expect a savings, but it will depend on a number of indices,” Alsop said.
The MEA plant opened in 1992 and generates about 50 megawatts of power.
The power is then sold to Mon Power, which feeds it into the PJM grid, the regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity among 13 states and the District of Columbia.
The state Public Service Commission approved Mon Power’s proposal to stop buying electricity from MEA on Jan. 1, with a condition.
In a concession to LP Mineral, which supplies waste coal to the Beechurst facility, the PSC required MEA to give both LP and Mon Power notice that it will stop buying the coal and stop using coal-fired boilers effective June 24, 2020.
In other matters Friday, the board of governors agreed to refinance $400 million in municipal bonds to take advantage of falling interest rates. The new bonds are expected to be issued before April 1.
The board also approved the creation of a new major, Health Services Management and Leadership, beginning in the fall. The new curriculum will be 120 credit hours. Also approved was a new major in Music Health, also available in the fall. The curriculum for this major is 123 hours.
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