This would not be the first time the University has become directly involved in the steam generation business. The University operated the Medical Area Total Energy Plant (MATEP) from 1985 to 1998, which supplied steam, along with electricity and chilled water, to the buildings on Harvard’s Longwood campus and to the surrounding hospital complexes.

The University’s ownership of MATEP was controversial at the time, particularly because the University severely overspent the project’s budget in paying $350 million to build the plant. The University only received $147 million when it sold the plant to the corporate predecessor of NSTAR.

At the time administrators questioned the appropriateness of the University owning an energy plant.

“Whatever our capacities are as a University, they do not really extend to great sophistication to running energy plants in a highly deregulated environment,” said then-University President Neil L. Rudenstine in a 1998 interview.

However, Vautin said that the University is not simply repeating a past mistake in buying the plant.

“There is a very big difference between this [Blackstone] facility and the MATEP plant,” Vautin said. He noted that the Blackstone plant almost solely serves the University and not a multitude of customers, like MATEP. He also noted that most institutions the size of Harvard own their own steam plants.

He said that if the University acquires the plant, it will not be directly operated by Harvard, but a company familiar with steam generation. The plant currently employs approximately 25 employees according to NSTAR.

The site may also offer some opportunity for redevelopment according to Spiegelman, particularly the portion of the facility that were used in the past for electrical generation. She indicated at Wednesday night’s meeting that any such redevelopment would likely involve building more housing units for Harvard affiliates.

—Staff writer Daniel P. Mosteller can be reached at dmostell@fas.harvard.edu.