Heating Plant
The UWSP Central Heating Plant, located on Maria Drive on the north end of campus, generates all of the steam that is used on campus. The steam produced heats our buildings and for domestic water, food preparation, process heating, campus laboratory applications and St. Michaels Hospital.
The heating plant operates 24 hours per day, 7 days each week, 356 days per year. Heating Plant employs seven full time plant operators. There are 2.5 miles of 8” steam pipe winding across campus, alongside 2.5 miles of smaller condensate pipe that is used to recover steam. The plant shuts down for approximately nine days immediately following spring graduation. During this shutdown, plant operators perform maintenance on equipment that can't be done when the plant is operating.