Buildings and Grounds Committee gets details on UVA’s next heat plant

The operations of the University of Virginia and the UVA Medical Center are made possible through infrastructure such as the mechanisms that provide steam and hot water. Both come from a heat plant that sits near the intersection of West Main Street and Jefferson Park Avenue.

“Steam supports the hospitals, clinics and medical research buildings approximate to the plant,” said Paul Zmick, Director of Energy and Utilities at UVA. “The plant hot water is used for building heat and domestic hot water production for the majority of University buildings located south of Ivy Road, University Avenue and west of Hospital Drive.”

Zmick said the plant can be fueled by natural gas, coal, or oil with the latter only used when the City of Charlottesville must limit support to UVA to serve other customers. That’s known as curtailment. This happens a few times a year and can last up to eleven days.

UVA now plans to build a new heat plant in several phases that will eliminate the use of coal and increase the amount of storage space for oil. The coal silos currently in place have been there since 1952.

“The scope of this project includes the demolition of the four coal silos, removal of all the materials and material handling equipment associated with coal and ash, optimize the existing coal boilers for operation on gas and oil, and construction of an additional fuel oil storage tank to the the emergency fuel capacity,” Zmick said.

The project has a cost estimate of $38 million.

Zmick said in addition to reducing carbon and sulfur emissions caused by burning coal, the new plant will also save UVA $1.5 million a year in operating and fuel costs. UVA will retain the ability to have oil delivered by rail.

The Charlottesville Planning Commission got a briefing update at their meeting on June 9 from one of UVA’s Associate Architects.

“The great news is that operational reliability for the hospital is going to improve,” said Michael Joy. “There’s going to be efficiencies with staffing it and operating it. It’s going to have a fairly substantial operating savings by getting off coal and it has significant carbon emissions reduction and it’s going to improve the view shed from the corner.”

Joy said he would provide updates as the project gets underway.

Before you go: The goal of Town Crier Productions is to increase awareness about what is happening at the local, regional, state, and federal government levels. Please share the work with others if you want people to know things. Paid subscribers cover the cost of conducting research for this article which was originally published in the June 10, 2026 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement.  You can either subscribe through Substack or make a charitable contribution.