Harrison Street has signed a 40-year public-private partnership with Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) for the US university鈥檚 on-campus utility system.
The partnership allows alternative real assets investment firm Harrison Street to lease, manage, operate, develop and finance WPI鈥檚 on-campus utility system. The partnership is part of WPI鈥檚 plan to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations.
Cogen Power Technologies will serve as the operator of the facility.
Carolyn Arida, managing director and head of utilities at Harrison Street, said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled to enter this partnership with WPI and feel proud that we are able to deliver a tailored capital and sustainability solution that fulfils the university鈥檚 energy objectives.
鈥淥ur district energy portfolio continues to grow, and with that has come an evolved understanding of how we can optimise critical infrastructure to benefit higher education institutions and other organisations.鈥�
Winston Soboyejo, interim president of WPI, said: 鈥淎s a university committed to the application of knowledge and research to solve the world鈥檚 most challenging problems, we aim to be at the forefront of developing, implementing, and transitioning to clean technologies.
鈥淲e must also ensure that we are contributing to climate-change solutions. This partnership allows us to do both: WPI鈥檚 campus will become a living laboratory where student, faculty, and staff can work side-by-side with Harrison Street and Cogen on projects and research that will result in innovations that address some of the major energy and environmental challenges in the world.鈥�
John Moynihan, a managing partner at Cogen Power Technologies, said: 鈥淎t Cogen, it has been our goal to be the leader and innovator in all-inclusive energy services 鈥� from project start to finish and beyond.
鈥淲e look forward to partnering with Harrison Street to implement renewable technologies, including solar, geothermal, batteries and combined heat and power, to advance WPI鈥檚 goals of reducing its carbon footprint.鈥�
