Cogeneration, district heating and district cooling: A century of district energy in Indianapolis
- Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)
In 1888, the proprietors of the Grand Opera House in Indianapolis requested electric light and steam heating service from the new Marmon-Perry Lighting Company, which the following year installed a small plant nearby to light several buildings and also heat the Opera House with exhaust steam piped through 250 feet of four-inch pipe. Indianapolis soon turned to natural gas for its heating needs, but the depletion of local gas fields at the turn of the century led to installation of several new low pressure steam and hot water district heating systems in the Indiana capital. These combined heat and power systems were finally merged together in 1927 to form Indianapolis Power and Light, which recently became a subsidiary of IPALCO Enterprises and is now the second-largest district energy utility in the United States. Mid-America Energy Resources, and unregulated subsidiary of IPALCO Enterprises formed in 1989, operates a 20,000 ton (70.4 mW) chilled water plant serving seventeen customers in downtown Indianapolis and also owns another district heating and cooling system serving downtown Cleveland.
- OSTI ID:
- 96158
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9506165--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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