Southeast Steam Plant

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The Southeast Steam Plant, formerly known as the Twin City Rapid Transit Company Steam Power Plant, is a combined heat and power plant on the Mississippi River in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States owned by the University of Minnesota.HistoryThe plant was constructed in 1903 to provide electricity for the Twin City Rapid Transit street railway system. It supported the area's major form of public transportation for 50 years.Minneapolis converted to buses in 1949 - 1954, and in the early 1950s, Northern States Power Company (now Xcel Energy) acquired the building. The University of Minnesota purchased the plant in 1976 for $1.OperationThe facility heats 94 buildings, provides electricity to cool 19 of those buildings, and provides steam to the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Minnesota State Board of Health and Cedar Riverside People's Center. Captured as the steam leaves the plant, pressure powers the plant and provides 20% of the university's electricity. The plant's steam is transported through an 18-mile network of tunnels to the campus buildings and would be enough to heat 55,000 homes. Each student pays about $200 for energy and those in residence halls pay $375 a year for heat and air conditioning, water heating and dining services.