With state legislators, guests and members of the University community in attendance, Montclair State University President Susan A. Cole and Energenic-US, LLC President and CEO Frank E. DiCola officially dedicated the Montclair District Energy System, the University’s new heating, cooling, and power project, at a ceremony on the Montclair State campus on October 26.

Currently under construction to replace the University’s aging steam-generating equipment, the new energy system will provide 100 percent of all steam and approximately 75 percent of electricity to the 250-acre campus using the latest, environmentally friendly technology.

“I cannot overstate the importance of this project, which is a natural—and necessary— step in continuing the enormous development that has taken place at the University over the past 14 years,” said Cole. “And I am proud to say that the new project embodies the University’s commitment to environmental stewardship by delivering clean, cost-effective and energy-efficient power and thermal services.”

“It’s not often that an institution such as this university makes a decision of this magnitude to aggressively improve—or in this case totally replace—their entire energy infrastructure. We commend them for it,” said DiCola. “This facility, when it’s complete, will be more than 75 percent efficient. That’s twice the national average of any power facility in the United States.”

The $90 million project is the result of a public-private partnership between Montclair State and Energenic, a partnership made possible by the 2009 New Jersey Economic Stimulus Act. The Montclair District Energy System is the second public-private partnership for Montclair State after The Heights, which opened in 2011.

“Without the New Jersey Economic Stimulus Act, providing for the possibility of public-private partnerships at the state colleges and universities, it is not at all clear how this critically important infrastructure could have been provided,” noted Cole.

State Senator Raymond Lesniak, Assemblyman Albert Coutinho and Assemblyman and Deputy Majority Leader Thomas Giblin, all of whom were instrumental in the passage of the Economic Stimulus Act, offered words of congratulations followed by an unveiling of a commemorative plaque that will be placed on the cornerstone of the combined heating, cooling and power plant.

Members of the project team from Montclair State, Energenic and construction trade unions then joined the legislators and presidents to sign a steel beam that will be lifted into place at the top of the power plant.

View photos from the dedication at Flickr.com.