The other boiler will be transported Friday to OSU

Oregon State University’s big boiler move didn’t go quite as planned Thursday.

Only one of two 55-ton boilers made it from the railroad depot at Ninth Street and Washington Avenue to OSU’s new $39 million energy center on 35th Street. The other remained at the depot because the subcontractors orchestrating the move had problems positioning it on a truck trailer.

“We were just really being extra cautious with the rigging and the positioning,” said K. Paul Durant, project manager for Andersen Construction, which is building the new energy center.

The boiler still at the depot is expected to be lifted by crane onto a different trailer this morning and hauled through town to the energy center, likely starting between 11 a.m. and noon, Durant said.

During the move, there will again be traffic delays and periodic closures of intersections.

The planned route is: east on Washington Avenue; south on Seventh Street; west on Western Boulevard; north on 11th Street; west on Washington Avenue; south on 15th Street; west on Washington Way; and finally north on 35th Street.

The circuitous route is necessary because of a large tree on Washington Avenue, Durant said.

Each of the backup steam boilers is about 16 feet tall, 30 feet long and 12 feet wide, said Larry Easterly, university engineering manager. The two boilers cost a combined $1.4 million, Durant said.

OSU’s energy center project is on budget, and while another night of security was needed at the depot on Ninth Street, Thursday’s setback wasn’t a blow to the construction timetable.

Besides, the boilers showed up a bit early. “About 45 days ahead of schedule,” Durant said.

This isn’t the last such move that OSU will face.

In June, the heat recovery steam generator will arrive. “The biggest piece of that is even bigger than the boilers,” Durant said.

The energy center, under construction at 35th Street and Jefferson Way, will produce 50 percent of the electricity needed to run the campus, as well as steam to heat buildings, and hot water, as well.

Natural gas will be used to generate electricity, and the waste heat from that process will create the steam. The building will be the first cogeneration facility in the Oregon University System, and is expected to save OSU anywhere from $250,000 to $1 million per year in energy costs.

Currently, OSU buys all of its electricity from utility companies, and its heating plant south of McAlexander Fieldhouse needs $8 million in seismic renovations. The boilers there also are from the 1950s, and there are concerns about the facility continuing to operate.

Site work on the energy center started more than a year ago, and the shell of the building is mostly complete. The facility should be operating by summer 2009.

Kyle Odegard covers Oregon State University. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.