Harvard had not planned to own the plant in the long run, but cost excesses forced the University to hold on to MATEP, according to Thomas E. Vautin, Harvard's associate vice president for facilities and environmental services.
The plant has been the subject of considerable controversy both at Harvard and in the larger Boston community.
Some administrators complained about the cost of the project, financed completely with central administration funding, while others said that Harvard should not be in the business of running a power plant.
At the same time, Boston resident raised safety concerns about MATEP. Harvard was forced to redesign the plant multiple times during the late 1970s, adding millions to construction costs.
The plant is now considered one of the most environmentally sound power plants in New England. The plant uses energy wasted from one conversion process to produce another form of energy. This was a critical part of the design for MATEP that made it energy efficient.
"The overall efficiency of MATEP is at least double that of a conventional power plant," said Vautin.
The final sale is still pending government approval at the city, state and federal levels, but Vautin is optimistic the deal will be finalized by early May.