Eliott Sorg

Staff Writer

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NMC has always been a small, yet proud campus. As an institution, it has always pushed the envelope in innovation and adaptive reuse, making every acre count on campus. The most recent and noteworthy project on campus is the geothermal plant, a revolutionary new way to heat campus. However, its presence will replace a highly interesting location on campus, the Power house.

 

The NMC Power house is an unassuming building, tucked off to the side of Cedar Lot, between the Osterlin building and the Tanis building. It's a simple brick structure, fronted by two large garage doors, and if you've ever passed by at the right time, you may be able to see the monumental steam boilers inside.

 

The Power house was one of the first structures built on campus. Built in 1955 alongside the Tanis building, which was then the Administration building. However, its construction faced a campus-wide issue: funding. 

 

NMC’s early years can be described as an underfunded dream. The current campus would not exist if not for the tremendous and unrelenting effort of NMC’s early administration. 

One notable example of this effort is when Les Biederman made the decision to temporarily hold NMC’s first classes in the old airport terminal building by jimmying the locks to the structure with a pocket knife to investigate the condition of the future classrooms.

The campus was built on a foundation of donations and community labor, none more complete than the Power house.

 

In the winter of 1954, construction of the first college structures began using WWII military surplus offices bought and assembled at the cost of $300. During construction, an issue became apparent - there was no way to heat the campus effectively during the cold winter months. The construction of the Power house was quoted at $20,000 - $15,000 more than the current budget.

 

In the same way it had been done before, NMC made a call to the community, and the response couldn't have been more generous.

In Northwestern Michigan College: The First Twenty Years author Preston N. Tanis

recalled the tremendous community outreach: 

 

“The Concrete Products Company of Cadillac donated the cement blocks, PreCast Industries of Kalamazoo provided the roof beams, the steel fire door was given by the Red Mill Lumber Company, and Purvis Brothers, Inc. fabricated and erected the smoke stack. …  A combination boiler and stoker no longer being used by a Hillsdale hospital was purchased for $750.”

 

Beyond just the materials provided, men from town came out to provide labor during the excavation and the pouring of the foundation. By the time the original Power house was completed in 1955, it had cost less than $2,000, a more than 80% cut in the cost.

 

While the Power house had been upgraded and modified through the years to meet a rising demand for power, a new problem became apparent.

 

In 2020 there became a need to update the campus’s power infrastructure. During construction of the innovation center in 2018, a smaller geothermal heating plant was installed as a proof of concept to provide the necessary power for the building itself.The efficiency of this plant was more than enough proof that a larger geothermal plant would be of use to the college.

 

In 2021, a review of the current power infrastructure was made, taking in account the costs to build and run a new power plant.The project found that the most efficient solution was geothermal, which would be able to recoup its cost within 25 years of service, and reduce carbon emissions by 96%.

 

A few years later in 2025, planning on the project began as construction had been completed at the new airport hangar project. $2.7 million was provided in a 2023 grant by the Biden administration to kickstart the project, and the 2025 sale of the University Center provided an additional 5 million.

 

At a total cost of $20 million the project began in May of 2026, and is scheduled to be completed by November 1st. This will see Cherry Lot reopened and repaved, the only significant change to the lot will be a terminal building showcasing the pipeline running into the field. 

 

The plant will remain inoperative until the summer of 2027, as time will be needed to disconnect the old Power house and reconnect the lines to the geothermal plant, requiring all electrical and heating systems to be temporarily shut off.