WPI partners with Chicago investment firm to reduce carbon footprint

A brick building with a pointed roof with many windows.

Photo | Timothy Doyle Worcester Polytechnic Institute

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By Timothy Doyle

Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Chicago investment firm Harrison Street announced a partnership on Tuesday aimed at reducing WPI’s carbon footprint by expanding energy-conservation measures, improving WPI’s power plant, and developing sustainable energy technologies for the WPI campus.

Harrison Street will pay the university $45 million and will collaborate with WPI faculty and students on research projects to create opportunities for hands-on learning on campus. The firm will become the exclusive energy supplier to WPI and will lease, manage, operate, develop, and finance the university’s campus utility system. The company will also offer internship opportunities to WPI students.

Harrison Street started in 2005 and has $53 billion in assets, according to the company’s website. It invests in real estate and infrastructure.

Launched in 2018, Harrison Street’s Social Infrastructure Fund was developed to pursue a strategy to service universities, health systems and government users, according to the company’s website.

“Deferred maintenance, decarbonization and resiliency trends have led to an increased need for capital solutions in the space,” the fund’s website says. “The fund focuses on highly structured assets within these segments, supported by long-term contractual arrangements which produce consistent financial performance across economic cycles.”

Cogen Power Technologies of Latham, New York will operate WPI’s campus power plant. The company built a combined heat and power plant at UMass Memorial Medical Center, which opened in 2019.

“As a university committed to the application of knowledge and research toward solving the world’s most challenging problems, we want to be at the forefront of developing, implementing, and transitioning to clean technologies,” says Winston “Wole” Soboyejo, interim president in the announcement. “We must also ensure that we are contributing to climate change solutions. This partnership allows us to do both.”

WPI announced potential improvements to the school as part of the partnership including new windows for campus structures, LED lighting, optimization of heating and cooling systems, microgrids for the campus, and alternative energy projects including solar and geothermal.

The university says the partnership also supports the school’s principle of providing project-based research experience.

“WPI’s research enterprise has been growing considerably over the past few years, and a common theme is that the application of knowledge and expertise helps people live better lives and makes the world a better, more sustainable place,” says Bogdan Vernescu, vice provost for research. “This partnership with Harrison Street assures some impressive opportunities for long-term research. I believe it will inspire different and potentially important paths to discovery and learning.”