In the year 2000, the College developed a strategic Campus Utility Plan as part of a comprehensive Facilities Planning Study.  The plan highlighted the following campus conditions that prioritized the construction of a new Central Energy Plant:

1. Dickinson does not have a central chilled water plant.  Independent chillers or window units exist throughout campus.  These units are loud, unsightly, and inefficient in terms of required maintenance, equipment efficiency, and capacity redundancy.
2. Dickinson’s Central Heating Plant’s steam boilers are over 40 years old.  They are maxed-out in terms of capacity, do not afford redundancy in the event of a failure, and are at the very end of their useful life.
3. The heating plant is in a location that is too prominent.  It is unsightly, loud, and takes up valuable acreage on the John Dickinson Campus.
4. Dickinson’s underground steam lines are over 40 years old and have started to fail.  As lines are replaced (which is extremely expensive), it makes sense to install new steam and chilled water lines simultaneously.
5. The capacity of the steam plant is insufficient to handle new demands – such as The New Science Building.

Architectural rendering of Central Energy Plant

Work began in the summer of 2005 with the construction of the plant at the rear of the Kaufman building along North Street.

Construction of the plant building

Throughout the 05/06 school year, work progressed, included the trenching of steam and chilled water lines underneath the railroad tracks and across Louther Street to connect the Townhouse, KW, and ATS to the plant.

Installation of steam and chilled water lines

After the shell of the building was completed, the boilers and condensers which will create the steam and chilled water to be delivered around campus, were installed.

One of three boilers and the chilled water condensers

Dickinson College, PO Box 1773, Carlisle, PA 17013