Cogen at 42+ years
Cheng Cycle + HRSG + legacy controls. ~40% electrical efficiency. 27,616 MTCO2e/yr Scope 1, 32.3 t/yr NOx.
Status quo · pre-decision
Your Campus Master Plan Phase 2 anticipates replacement in the next 5–10 years. The December 31, 2033 §48E cliff sets the construction-start deadline. The March 2022 CSU Board of Trustees resolution prohibits new natural-gas assets after 2035. The window to capture the full 30% credit is closing.
You secured operating room for the 1984 cogen. That's a tactical win. But the strategic decision window is set by federal credit timing, not by your air permit. Working backward from the §48E full-credit cliff, every month of delay costs more than the next.
“Replacement of the Central Plant is anticipated to be necessary within the next 10 years and as part of Campus Master Plan implementation (Phase 2). It is anticipated that the future system would replace steam with hot water.”
This is not BCal's roadmap. It's SJSU Planning's own document. Our Phase 1 (COD 2029) + Phase 2 (COD 2031–32) + Phase 3 (construction-start before Dec 31, 2033) aligns precisely with the trajectory your campus has already published — and captures the full 30% §48E credit before the 2034 cliff. The steam-to-hot-water transition is exactly what our HRU + thermal-tie-in design accommodates.
Three phases. Two decades. One deadline. Each milestone below is a contractual checkpoint, not a marketing slide.
Cheng Cycle + HRSG + legacy controls. ~40% electrical efficiency. 27,616 MTCO2e/yr Scope 1, 32.3 t/yr NOx.
2-hour site walk. Mutual NDA execution. CPRA-confirmed utility data hand-off. Tie-in feasibility report within 5 business days.
LOI within 5 business days of site walk. CSU Chancellor's Office §6417 confirmation. SJSU BoT Phase 1 approval.
CEQA addendum, BAAQMD Reg 9-9 BACT, City SJ permits, PG&E Rule 21 interconnection. Cell stack manufacturing lead-time begins.
19.71 GWh/yr BOL. Displaces ~93% of PG&E grid imports. Steam tie-in to existing HRSG header. BESS provides PG&E peak-shave + N+1.
Aligns with SJSU Campus Master Plan Phase 2 central plant replacement (per EIR p.96). Steam-to-hot-water conversion supported.
Per OBBBA July 2025: construction-start by this date locks in 30% §48E ITC + 30% §6417 Direct Pay. 2034 = 75%. 2035 = 50%. 2036 = zero.
Existing 1984 cogen decommissioned. Final 27,616 MTCO2e/yr Scope 1 eliminated. 32.3 t/yr NOx eliminated.
No new natural-gas assets system-wide. Hot-water conversion + RNG/H2 fuel-flex compatibility on MCFC modules.
CSU 2040 target (80% below 1990). 2045 system-wide carbon neutrality. RNG/H2 blending pathway already engineered.
Each of these is independently documented in SJSU, CARB, BAAQMD, or CSU records — and each tightens the case for moving inside the §48E window.
1984 vintage Cheng Cycle. 250,000+ operating hours. EIR p.96 explicitly anticipates replacement within 10 years. HGP overhaul + DCS modernization + generator rewind capex looms.
EIR p. 96 · STARS 2024Cogen emits 32.3 tons/yr NOx. Reg 9-9 BACT tightening puts existing turbines under SCR retrofit pressure. MCFC at <0.01 lb/MWh eliminates this category entirely.
CARB 2022 · BAAQMD Reg 9-927,616 MTCO2e/yr cogen Scope 1 — ~85% of SJSU total. CSU BoT March 2022: 80% by 2040, neutral by 2045. New NG assets prohibited after 2035.
CSU BoT · March 202221.27 GWh PG&E imports in CY2022 — significantly larger than commonly cited. Master plan projects growth to 10.55M GSF. B-20 + SB rate exposure compounds yearly.
STARS 2024 · PG&E B-20+SBCash to the general fund. Risk off the campus's balance sheet. Strategic optionality on fuel and policy.
SJSU is a state instrumentality, eligible for §6417 Direct Pay under Treasury final regulations issued March 2024. 30% of qualified project basis is refunded as cash — not a tax offset, but a check to the General Fund. Stackable with §48E ITC monetization on remaining basis.
Hot-gas-path overhaul. BAAQMD SCR retrofit. DCS modernization. Generator rewind. All transferred under EPC fixed-price + 20-year LTSA performance guarantees. SJSU is not the integration risk holder — the OEM and EPC are, on contract.
NOx CEQA-exemption pathway via low-emission designation. RNG-compatible Day 1. H2 fuel-flex on roadmap. 27,616 MTCO2e/yr Scope 1 eliminated by Phase 3. Aligns SJSU's central plant with CSU 2040 + 2045 targets without retrofitting.
We don't manufacture cells, build EPCs, or operate plants. We assemble the multi-vendor, multi-credit, multi-regulatory transaction — and stand behind it.
Direct Pay for state instrumentalities is procedurally distinct from corporate ITC monetization. We've structured the eligibility memo + IRS filing pathway with bond counsel review.
Peer 2.8 MW MCFC reference operating at a UC campus microgrid. Peer CSU 800 kW MCFC deployment (2015–16). We know the chancellor's-office sign-off path.
Selected MCFC OEM + selected EPC partner (tier-1, MBE, CA Class A/B) + LTSA + interconnect + permitting under one orchestrated agreement. No finger-pointing across vendors.
LTSA pricing escalation, performance guarantees, stack-replacement schedule, fuel-flex provisions, force-majeure carve-outs — all negotiated with comparables on file.
CEQA addendum (vs full EIR), BAAQMD Reg 9-9 low-emission designation, City SJ ministerial, PG&E Rule 21 transmission interconnect at Markham 115 kV.
OEM manufactures cells. EPC builds. LTSA operates and maintains. BCal orchestrates the multi-vendor, multi-credit, multi-regulatory transaction. Open-book on every line item — no markup hidden in EPC pricing.
Phase 1 doesn't replace your cogen. It replaces 93% of your grid imports — the most expensive and emissions-intensive part of your supply.
Source: SJSU STARS 2024-01-19 filing. Total campus electric: ~54.1 GWh across 7.72M GSF. Cogen carries the campus base load; PG&E imports cover peaks + supplement.
Open-book waterfall. Every line item is traceable to a vendor proposal, regulatory filing, or budgetary estimate. Direct Pay rebate flows to the general fund within 12–18 months of COD.
At a 3% cogen cost escalation (the CPUC standard assumption), BCal crosses cogen on a per-kWh basis between Year 5 and Year 6. Drag the slider to test sensitivity.
≈ $0.013/kWh above cogen Y1 — within forecast noise. LCOE crossover Year 5–6. Real value: Direct Pay cash, Scope 1 elimination, vintage-asset risk transfer.
Status quo isn't free. Continuing cogen plus the forced 2034–35 replacement (at degraded §48E percentages) is comparable to BCal — without the Scope 1 elimination or NOx wins.
The honest framing: BCal Phase 1 is cost-competitive with status quo + the forced 2034 replacement. The differentiator is not headline cost — it's 27,616 MTCO2e/yr Scope 1 elimination + 32.3 t/yr NOx + $13.7M Direct Pay cash + vintage-asset risk off the balance sheet. Status quo locks SJSU into a 2035 NG-prohibition violation. BCal does not.
By Phase 3 construction-start (before Dec 31, 2033), SJSU's central plant Scope 1 emissions are eliminated entirely. Reading down the page tracks the actual decarbonization curve.
MCFC fuel cells emit <0.01 lb/MWh NOx — a 99.97% reduction. This eliminates BAAQMD Reg 9-9 BACT exposure entirely. Also eliminates 0.12 t/yr SOx, 22.08 t/yr CO, and 2.63 t/yr PM. The air-quality CEQA findings shift from significant-and-unavoidable to net beneficial.
Our current numbers carry a ±15% confidence band. Each data item SJSU shares (via CPRA or NDA) narrows the band. The model is fully transparent — toggle items below.
No estimate is presented without a source. Before we sent you a single number, we read SJSU's own planning documents end-to-end, parsed the current PG&E tariff, pulled your STARS submission, queried the CEC plant database, and traced the §6417 Direct Pay rule changes through Treasury final regs and OBBBA. The depth below is why our ±15% band is defensible — and why we can tighten to ±5% the moment CPRA returns.
SJSU keeps optionality. Path O captures the §6417 cash. Path P preserves it as a procurement fallback if balance-sheet posture argues for ESA.
2× 1.25 MW modules + LFP storage. Steam tie-in to existing HRSG header. Markham 115 kV interconnect.
19.71 GWh/yr BOL. Cogen continues to provide steam. ~8,600 MTCO2e/yr Scope 1 reduction.
Doubles fuel-cell capacity. Aligns with SJSU Campus Master Plan Phase 2 central plant replacement per EIR p.96. Steam-to-hot-water conversion supported.
Cumulative ~15,000 MTCO2e/yr Scope 1 reduction. Cogen kept on warm-standby for resilience until Phase 3.
Captures final tranche of §48E credit before degradation begins. Decommissioning under EPC scope. Site footprint freed for campus use.
Central plant fully transitioned. CSU 2035 NG prohibition compliance achieved. RNG/H2 fuel-flex roadmap operational.
Each step is a deliverable, not a meeting. Step 4 (LOI) puts SJSU in position to capture the full §48E credit window with maximum schedule slack.
2 hours on campus. Cogen room, HRSG header, Markham yard, proposed MCFC pad. Tie-in feasibility memo within 5 business days.
Book site walkEight items in the data room above. Tightens accuracy band from ±15% to ±5%. Confirms cogen heat-rate, chargeback rate, interconnect path.
See data roomBCal drafts LOI for SJSU FDO review. CSU Chancellor's Office §6417 eligibility memo + bond counsel concurrence. BoT briefing material.
Request LOI templateUnlocks: MCFC OEM identity, EPC partner identity, vendor proposals, peer UC/CSU references with operational data, LTSA template.
Download NDAMutual NDA unlocks vendor identity, peer-deployment data, and the LTSA template. LOI puts SJSU into the §48E construction-start window.
Standard mutual non-disclosure, two-year tail. Covers vendor identities, supplier relationships, EPC partner introductions, peer-customer operational data, and LTSA pricing comparables.
Download NDA template (PDF)Letter of Intent within 5 business days of site walk. Includes preliminary economics, governance approval pathway, BCal developer-fee structure, capital-plan timing, and §6417 Direct Pay flow.
Request LOIOn-campus. Cogen room. HRSG header. Markham yard. Proposed MCFC pad. Tie-in feasibility memo within 5 business days of the walk.
This page presents a preliminary term sheet based on publicly-available data, customer-confirmed verbal statements, and vendor budgetary proposals disclosed under NDA. BCal does not provide tax advice. SJSU should consult its tax counsel and the CSU Chancellor's Office regarding §6417 Direct Pay and §48E ITC eligibility. Projections are subject to change pending firm vendor quotes, site walk findings, CPRA-confirmed utility data, and BOT approval. Vendor identities, supplier relationships, and EPC partner introductions disclosed under executed mutual NDA. Contact info@bcalenergy.com to initiate.