Cornell University Central Heat
Cornell UniversityTompkins County
Cornell University Central Heat is Cornell's combined heat and power facility in Ithaca, New York (EIA plant ID 50368). It is a natural-gas-fired combined-cycle cogeneration plant that produces electricity and steam for the university's campus district-energy system. The facility comprises two 15 MW Solar Turbines Titan 130 dual-fuel gas-turbine generator sets with heat-recovery steam generators, installed during a 2009 modernization, alongside earlier steam-turbine and standby diesel-generator units. The facility operates at approximately 80 percent efficiency and supplies roughly 80 percent of the campus's electrical power.
Mapped infrastructure geometry associated with this asset.
EIA plant 50368 · Inventory for Aug 2026.
| Generator | Technology | Status | Power (MW) | Energy (MWh) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CT1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Operating | 15 | Unknown |
| CT2 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Operating | 15 | Unknown |
| EDG1 | Petroleum Liquids | Standby | 1 | Unknown |
| EDG2 | Petroleum Liquids | Standby | 1 | Unknown |
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Operating generator records and technology attributes reported through EIA-860.
| Generator | Capacity | Technology | Operation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CT1 | 15 MW 12.3 MW summer | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle Natural Gas · CT | Dec 2009 | Operating |
| CT2 | 15 MW 12.3 MW summer | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle Natural Gas · CT | Dec 2009 | Operating |
| EDG1 | 1 MW 0.9 MW summer | Petroleum Liquids Disillate Fuel Oil · IC | Dec 2009 | Standby/Backup: available for service but not normally used |
| EDG2 | 1 MW 0.9 MW summer | Petroleum Liquids Disillate Fuel Oil · IC | Dec 2009 | Standby/Backup: available for service but not normally used |
Monthly EIA generation history and recent market-resource behavior where linked telemetry is available.
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Project milestones and public references behind the asset profile.
The heating plant pressure was doubled to 400 psig and back-pressure steam turbine electric generators were added, generating approximately 30 million kWh per year of electricity at about twice the thermal efficiency of conventional power plants.
| TG1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Standby | 1.8 | Unknown |
|---|
| TG2 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Operating | 5.7 | Unknown |
|---|
Monthly generation is reported through EIA-923. Capacity factor uses the current EIA nameplate capacity and is shown only for complete calendar years.
Portfolio membership follows the latest EIA-860 reporting entity. It does not imply ultimate ownership.
EIA-860 lists generator TG1 with this operating date.
EIA-860 lists generator TG2 with this operating date.
The Cornell Combined Heat and Power Project (CCHPP), a new $82 million facility, was completed. It comprises two 15 MWe dual-fuel Solar Turbines Titan 130 gas turbine generators with heat-recovery steam generators, a dedicated 3.2-mile natural-gas pipeline, substation modernization, and related infrastructure.
EIA-860 lists generator CT1, generator CT2, generator EDG1, generator EDG2 with this operating date.
FERC ruled on March 18, 2010, that NYSEG and RG&E must continue to purchase excess power output from Cornell's CHP facility, finding that the large qualifying facility did not have nondiscriminatory access to markets under the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Answered from the published record above. Questions whose inputs this profile does not carry are omitted rather than estimated.
Cornell University Central Heat reports 35.7 MW natural gas of operating nameplate capacity. These technology ratings do not establish a common export limit. Source: EIA Aug 2026.
Cornell University Central Heat is a Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle facility in Tompkins County, NY, participating in the NYISO market.
Cornell University Central Heat is in Tompkins County, NY, inside the NYISO balancing area.
Cornell University Central Heat is operated by Cornell University - CHP according to the EIA generator inventory. Reporting membership does not by itself establish ultimate ownership.
Cornell University Central Heat reported 222.4 GWh over the twelve months to 2024-12. Figures are net generation as filed to EIA-923.
By capacity, Cornell University Central Heat ranks #507 of 540 operating plants of the same technology nationally. It ranks #37 of 39 in NY.
Plants within 25 km, nearest first, regardless of technology. Proximity is straight-line distance between mapped plant coordinates; it does not by itself establish a shared point of interconnection.