# T B Simon Power Plant

MISO asset profile · https://askthegrid.com/assets/facilities/t-b-simon-power-plant

Michigan State University - Ingham County - MISO

T.B. Simon Power Plant is a natural-gas cogeneration facility in Ingham County, Michigan, with nine operating generators totaling 127.5 MW of nameplate capacity. The plant sits on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing and is owned and operated by the university itself rather than a merchant generator, supplying both electricity and district steam to campus buildings. Its oldest steam turbines date to 1965-1966, with additional units added in 1974, 1993, and 2006, and three 9.4 MW natural-gas internal combustion engines installed in February 2022. The plant burned coal for decades before MSU completed a conversion to run entirely on natural gas in 2016. MSU is also building a new 15 MW combined-cycle addition at the site to expand generation and support a planned chilled-water plant. In September 2026 a failure at the plant caused a widespread campus-wide power outage, underscoring the plant's role as the primary electricity and steam source for the roughly 50,000-student campus.

## Metrics

- **Nameplate capacity:** 127.5 MW — Canonical EIA plant baseline.
- **Registry anchor:** Plant 10328 — plant-10328

## Facts

- **Technology:** Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine, Natural Gas Steam Turbine, Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine
- **Operator:** Michigan State University

## Related parties

- **Balancing authority:** Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) — Balancing authority ([source](https://www.misoenergy.org/meet-miso/about-miso))

## Sources

- [api.eia.gov](https://api.eia.gov/v2/electricity/operating-generator-capacity/data?api_key=DEMO_KEY&data%5B0%5D=nameplate-capacity-mw&data%5B1%5D=net-summer-capacity-mw&data%5B2%5D=operating-year-month&end=2026-06&facets%5Bplantid%5D%5B%5D=10328&frequency=monthly&start=2026-06) — api.eia.gov · authoritative — Source retained for exact-record publication review.
- [edge.sitecorecloud.io](https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/michiganstab57e-msustrategi129d-prod9868-7e5e/media/project/msu/trustees/docs/2026/04-10-26/stamped-resolutions/bf3-budget-revision-combined-heat-stamp.pdf) — edge.sitecorecloud.io · public_source — Source retained for exact-record publication review.

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Canonical page: https://askthegrid.com/assets/facilities/t-b-simon-power-plant
Website: [Michigan State University](https://msu.edu)

Source: Ask the Grid — https://askthegrid.com/