History of District Heating in the United States

| Chronological List of District Heating Systems in the United States |

District Heating in St. Paul, Minnesota


1916 Map of Steam Mains of Consumers Power Co. \| Successor to American District Steam Co. System.	1985 Map of St. Paul Hot Water System

St. Paul had three separate district heating systems. The first was started by John Wann, who owned several buildings in downtown St. Paul and secure permission from the St. Paul.Common Council to install steam pipes on Sibley, Wacouta, Third, Fourth and Fifth streets, which covered almost the entire downtown district. He arranged with local steam engineer Eugene J. Osborne (1846 - 1910) to install boilers in one of his buildings and supply steam to customers. The system served customers on block 15 and was operating by July 1880 with plans to extend service to at least one dozen blocks. In a January 1881 article Osborne listed eleven buildings on blocks 15, 28 and 29 being supplied with steam for heat or power and stated that his plan was to transfer the system to the St. Paul Gas Light Company once they received permission to add steam service to their charter, which the legislature passed in March 1881. Osborne's Heating and Ventilating Company in the same building with his boilers was largely destroyed by fire in November 1884, causing a significant loss for him. He next appears in Kansas City in 1888 advising on the installation of a similar system that died out for unknown reasons, from which he moved to Chicago where he died in 1910. He held several steam patents and published two books which are included below.

The St. Paul district heating system was operating by January 1881, two months after the Denver City Steam Heating Company began service, which is the oldest operating commercial district heating system in the world. The St. Paul system may have started service before November, but no evidence of that has been found.

The St. Paul Gas Light Company built several additional small heating plants in the downtown area before being bought by the Northern States Power Company in 1910. Although firm evidence on the first date of steam service across public streets is not known, this system could well predate the November 1880 system in Denver that is the oldest known commercial district steam system in the world that is still operating

The second system was built by the Manhattan Light, Heating & Power Company, which received permission to cross Robert and Fifth Streets with steam tunnels in 1898, allowing their boilers on block 17 to also heat buildings on blocks 10 and 18. Standard Oil executive Charles Lockhart purchased the Manhattan Building in 1899 and after his death in 1905 the steam system was sold to the Manhattan Heating and Lighting Company.

The third system in St. Paul was built by the American District Steam Company of Lockport, New York and began operating around 1905 or 1906. This company formed the Northern Manufacturing Company to own the system, which supplied steam from a new plant at 3d Street (Now Kellogg Boulevard) and Market Streets.. This company was quickly acquired by the Northern Heating and Lighting Company and began offering electric lighting service. This company then became part of the Consumers' Power Company in 1910, which was renamed Northern States Power Company in 1916.

The oil shocks of the 1970s motivated the federal government to explore opportunities to build new district heating systems. St. Paul was one of several cities evaluated and was selected as a promising location. Local leaders took the lead in moving the project along. aided by the support of Northern States Power, which owned an operated the district steam system.

The system was sold in 1981 to the District Heating Development Company. which constructed a new hot water district heating system that began service on September 27, 1983. Steam service was ended in 1985 as the last customers were connected to the new hot water system.

The system is now owned and operated by District Energy St. Paul. Heat is provided by a 25-MW combined heat and power plant fueled by urban wood waste.

References
1879 An Improved System of Steam-Heating Apparatus Invented by E. F. Osborne, M.E., January 24, 1879.

1879 An ACT amending parts of the charter of the city of St. Paul, and acts amendatory thereof. February 28, 1879.
SEC. 8. The common council of the city of St. Paul, by a three-fourths vote of all the members elect, shall have the power to grant to individuals, firms or corporations the use of'the streets and public grounds of said city, for the purpose of laying pipes for conducting steam for heating and motive power, upon such conditions as the common council may determine by resolution. Provided, however, that said pipes shall always be laid under the direction of the board of public works, and shall be at all times under the control of said board.

1879 Proceedings of the Common Council of the City of St. Paul, for Year Ending January 1, 1880
Page 170: Resolved, That John Wann is hereby authorized to use Sibley, Wacouta, Third, Fourth and Fifth streets, for the purpose of laying pipes for conducting steam for heating and motive power. Provided, however, that said pipes shall always be laid under the direction of the Board of Public Works, and shall be at all times under the control of said board. And, provided further, the Common Council reserves to itself the right to order said pipes removed whenever ,in its opinion the public good requires it, and provided that any act by said Wann under this resolution shall be construed as a guarantee that he will protect the city from all damage and claims arising by reason of said work.
Approved, Oct. 8, 1879.

1880 Engineering News 7:261 (July 31, 1880)
The scheme of supplying heat and power from central boilers and engines has been in successful operation in St. Paul for some time. This plan embraced but one block, and is now to be extended so as to include at least one dozen.

1881 "Steam for St. Paul," The Saint Paul Globe, January 24, 1881, Page 1.
The Project to Utilize the Gas Works for Heat and Power. The inventions of E. F. Osborne, a Practical St. Paul Mechanic.
Running steam mains through the streets. If the gas company secures the amendments to its charter which it is asking of the legislature, Mr. Osborne will be associated with them, and the benefit of all of his valuable patents will be given to St. Paul at once.
He has two boilers, one of fifty and the other of sixty horse power, and a sixty horse power engine. With this machinery he is now furnishing heat and power to Noyes Bros. & Cutler, Schmidt & Muller, Craig & Larkin, Granger & Hodge, Maxfield & Co., Berkey & Co., Strong, Hackett & Chapin, Brewer & Budd and Geo. L. Farwell. He also supplies power to Hall Paar and Beaupre, Allen & Keogh. Here are eleven large buildings already supplied from Mr. Osborne's general repository.
The gas company have an immense amount of heat which goes to waste at present. Their furnaces are in full blast night and day the year around, and if this immense heat can be utilized in making steam for general distribution it will diminish the cost of heat and power and also gas as well. After receiving their charter amendments they will proceed immediately with the work and at least $100,000 will be expended during 1881.
Ten boilers of one hundred horsepower each will be put in place in the gas works and mains laid at the depth of, about three feet as far up as Robert street, so that all the business portion of the city below Wabashaw street will be supplied with heat and power the current year. Mr. Osborne will put in at his present location two engines of one hundred horse power each, which will be run by steam from the gas works, and these engines will make a central station, from which power will be distributed. As the work progresses it is proposed to make other power stations by locating an engine in about every other block in accordance with demands the tenants. In this way the problem of cheap power will be solved.

1881 An ACT to authorize the St. Paul Gas Light Company to furnish steam for heating and motive power, and the electric light for purposes of illumination in the city of St. Paul. March 5, 1881.

1882 "Motive Power From Steam Heating Pipes," by E. F. Osborne, Scientific American 46(22):349 (June 3, 1882)
I desire to call attention to my plan for producing power at a small expense for fuel, in connection with my system of furnishing heat and power in cities from central stations. I have a steam supply plant in operation in St. Paul, Minn., where heat and power are furnished to a large number of buildings, the power, during the season is which the demand for heat is in excess of that for power, being produced at a very small expense with the following described plan.

1882 "Meter for Steam Heating," by E. F. Osborne, Scientific American 47(5):68 (July 29, 1882)
The Osborne method has been adopted by the American Heating and Power Company of this city, and it is now being put in operation in a district east of the lower part of Broadway in this city.

1884 "Articles of Incorporation of the Economy Steam Heat Company," The Saint Paul Globe, March 18, 1884, Page 4

1884 Map of Lower Downtown St. Paul showing block numbers

1884 "Disastrous Conflagration," Minneapolis Tribune, November 24, 1884, Page 5.
Total destruction of the Osborne Steam Heating and Ventilating Company's Building at St. Paul.
229 East Fourth Street, owned by John Wann
There were seven boilers for heating purposes, they being located in the rear of the first floor. The pipes running to several other buildings.

1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota, Volume 1
Plate 2 (left side): 229 East Fourth Street shows boilers damaged by fire. | Also boilers of the St. Paul Gas Light Company at 184 East Fifth Avenue.

1886 Steam; its utilization by means of the Osborne system of construction for heating, ventilating & power plants, as perfected, simplified and adapted for hotels, asylums, business blocks ... and public buildings generally, by E. F. Osborne

1889 "Big Steam Project," The Saint Paul Globe, November 14, 1889, Page 2.
American District Steam Company.

1891 The St. Paul Globe, July 28, 1891, Page 8.
The Economy Steam Heat company has filed a certificate of amendment to its articles »f incorporation. The name of the company Is now the St. Paul Light, Heat and Power compauy. and its capital stock is $150,000..

1894 St. Paul Gas Company acquires St. Paul Light, Heat and Power Company.

1898 Ordinance No. 1983: An Ordinance authorizing the Manhattan Company to construct a tunnel under the surface of Robert Street, May 20, 1898
Steam heating pipes from the Manhattan Building across Robert Street
Ordinance No. 2004 An Ordinance authorizing the Manhattan Company to construct a tunnel under the surface of Fifth Street, August 20, 1898
Steam heating pipes from Lot 1 block 18, to the basement of the building direct across the street.

1901 Western Electrician 29:125 (August 24, 1901)
The Merchants Hotel company has begun work for the installation of an electric light and heating plant for the hotel. It is understood, however, that the plant will be the nucleus of a new system, which, it is proposed to install and make a bid for public and commercial patronage.

1903 "Favors the Project," The Saint Paul Globe, November 17, 1903, Page 2.
Assembly Committee Approves Steam Heat Franchise
American District Steam Company
This is the second company that has made an effort to secure the use of the streets for supplying heat to buildings. The first company to apply was a local concern, which applied for a franchise three years ago. The council then wanted the residence sections supplied, but the promoters refused because of the Immense cost of construction.
The St. Paul Gas Light company at present uses several of the streets to conduct heat to buildings.

1903 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota, Volume 2
Plate 166: Shows boilers at 299-231 East Fourth Avenue; French, Finch & Co. steam from 229-231 E. 4th Ave
Plate 165: Finch, Young & McConville, steam from 229-231 E. 4th Ave

1904 "Steam Company Will Begin to Dig Soon," The Saint Paul Globe, September 21, 1904, Page 2.
American District Steam Company.

1905 Power 25:515 (August 1905)
The American District Steam Company, St. Paul, Minn. was given a permit to erect its $25,000 plant.

1905 John Wann (6 Jul 1829 - 23 Aug 1905) grave

1905 Resolution of the Common Council, September 11, 1905, from Compiled Ordinances of the City of St. Paul, Minnesota (1908)
Pages 381-382: Resolved, That the transfer by the American District Steam Company of all its rights, privileges, franchises and property, under Ordinance No. 2457, of the City of St. Paul, to the Northern Manufacturing Company, and the acceptance of said transfer by the Northern Manufacturing Company, together with the bond of said Northern Manufacturing Company, to the City of St. Paul, in the penal sum of $25,000, executed under and pursuant to said Ordinance No. 2457, as submitted by the Corporation Attorney, all of said instruments bearing date July 6, 1905, be and the same are hereby accepted and approved, and the City Clerk is directed to transmit and file the same with the City Comptroller.

1906 "Electricity in St. Paul," Municipal Journal and Engineer 20(9):190 (February 28, 1906)
The Northern Heating and Electric Company, successor to the Northern Manufacturing Company, a branch of the American District Steam Company, has applied to the City Council of St. Paul, Minn., for an electric light and power franchise covering the entire city. The company now has a franchise for supplying steam for heating purposes in the business district of the city and has laid. a large amount of pipe in the streets and erected a central plant at Third and Market streets.
The ordinance for the important extension of powers now applied for provides for a beginning with the work of stringing wires and installing other equipment within six months after its adoption. Another stipulation is that a mile of street frontage is to be so occupied within eighteen months after said adoption.

1910 Northern Heating and Electric Company acquired by Consumers' Power Company

1912 The Heating and Ventilating Magazine 9(10):49 (October 1912)
ST. PAUL, MINN.-Estimates for a city heating, lighting and power plant will be asked for as soon as the plans are completed for the new library building. The scheme, as proposed by Mayor Keller, is to heat and light the city hall and court house, jail, the auditorium and the new library from a central plant. The plans are being drawn by City Engineer Oscar Claussen and City Chemist Victor Roehrich. The St. Paul Gas Light Company has already submitted a bid for supplying steam heat for this purpose at a rate of 40 cents per 1,000 lbs.

1916 Poor's Manual of Public Utilities; Street, Railway, Gas, Electric, Water, Power, Telephone and Telegraph Companies, June 1916.
Page 1497: Northern States Power Co. Successor, in February 1616, by change of name, to the Consumers' Power Company. The company is operating in the communities served without competition, except in St. Paul, in which electricity and steam heat are also furnished by the St. Paul Gas Light Company.

1916 "St. Paul Central Station Utilizes All Exhaust Steam for Heating," Steam 18:76 (September 1916)
Electricity becomes a by-product in St. Paul Plant of the Northern States Power Company.| includes system map

1928 Northern States Power Company
Page 37: St. Paul Gas Light Company, which property was purchased in January 1926 by Northern States Power Company,
Steam heating details

1932 Utility Corporations: Letter from the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission
Pages 554-555: Northern States Power Company - Appraisal of acquired St. Paul Properties
The appraisal referred to above was made by St. Paul Gas Light Co. In November, 1926, Byllesby Engineering & Management Corporation submitted to Northern States Power Co. an appraisal based on a detailed inventory as of March 31, 1926. This appraisal contained three sections; namely, St. Paul Gas Light Co., gas department; St. Paul Gas Light Co., electric and steam heating department; and St. Paul division, exclusive of the property formerly belonging to St. Paul Gas Light Co. Text Table No. 9 following summarizes and totals the appraisal for the three sections of the properties.
TABLE 9. Summary of appraisal of properties of the St. Paul division of Northern States Power Co. as of March 31, 1926:
Steam Heating Department:
Property in city limits of St. Paul $729,843
Property outside limits of St. Paul $83,245

1957 Builders of Northern States Power Company, by Herbert W. Meyer
Page 8: Hill street. Fourth street and the Ryan hotel stations also served as steam heating plants. Steam mains were carried in tunnels dug in the white sandstone which underlies the downtown St. Paul area only a short distance below the surface. These tunnels found an added use as a means of carrying electric cables to various places in the area.
Page 11: About the year 1900 a company known as the Manhattan Light, Heat, and Power Company was organized by the Lockhart interests of Pittsburgh under the local supervision of L.L.C. Brooks. The Lockhart Company at that time controlled the TriState Telephone and Telegraph Company and also owned the Manhattan Building in which the Manhattan Light, Heat, and Power Company had its plant. This plant served several adjacent buildings.
The American District Steam Company of North Tonawanda, N. Y., became interested in the St. Paul heating situation through the Lockhart Company and in 1904 obtained a franchise for heating a certain area in downtown St. Paul. G.0. House was sent tp St. Paul to supervise the installation of the heating mains and the construction of a plant at 3rd and Market streets. Service was to have begun in the fall of 1905 but the steel work on the plant was delayed. In order to furnish heat to the company’s customers the heating plant in the Manhattan building, which the company owned, as well as the heating plants in the Baltimore and Bradley buildings, were connected to the heating mains.
The Third Street plant went into service in 1906 as a steam heating plant and in 1907 as an electric generating station. A little later the Manhattan plant was shut down and a direct-current substation was installed in its place. The Manhattan building, which was located at 5th and Robert streets, is now known as the Empire National Bank building.
A separate corporation, known as the Northern Heating and Electric Company, was formed by the American District Steam Company. The new company obtained an electrical franchise from the City of St. Paul dated Dec. 26, 1906.

1982 "Study of Building Conversion Costs for the St. Paul Hot Water District Heating Market," Proceedings of the International District Heating Association 73 (June 1982)

1983 "Ground Is Broken for the St. Paul Hot Water District Heating System," District Heating 68(40):11-12 (2nd Quarter 1983)

1983 "District heating project still generating heat," Star Tribune, September 11, 1983, Page 53 | Part 2 |
Includes map of the piping network

1983 "St. Paul turns on district heat system," Star Tribune, September 28, 1983, Page 27.

1983 A Guide to the Industrial Archeology of the Twin Cities
Page 31: Power - Third St. Station/NSP, 76 Kellogg Blvd.
The American District Steam Co., N. Tonawanda, N.Y. obtained a franchise in 1904 to provide steam heat for a certain area of downtown St. Paul. ADSC soon formed a separate corporation, Northern Heating and Electric Co., and obtained a St. Paul electrical franchise as well. The plant originally employed one 300 kw and two 1000 kw steam turbines, generating electricity as a means of obtaining a return on heat loss that accompanies steam pressure reduction for district heating. The plant began supplying steam heat in 1906 and electricity the next year. The first electrical customer was the nearby newly completed civic auditorium. Northern Heating and Electric was purchased by H.M. Byllesby in 1910 as part of his endeavor to consolidate utilities in the Upper Midwest. The plant became part of Byllesby's Consumers Power Co., which was renamed NSP in 1916. Although the plant lies only 500' from the river, it uses it neither for coal delivery nor for cooling. Clean burning bituminous coal via the Great Lakes is shipped in by rail. Because the primary function of the plant has always been district heating, even after half a century its generating capacity had expanded only to 4000 kw. The plant has just been purchased by St. Paul's District Heating Development Co. and will serve as the primary generating station for a city-wide coal-fired district hot-water heating system. Drawing upon well-developed Swedish technology, the system will be the largest in the country.

1984 "St. Paul Hot Water District Heating Project Construction Experience," Proceedings of the International District Heating Association 75 (June 1984)

1984 "The St. Paul Metering Experience," District Heating 70(1):5-12 (3d Quarter 1984)

1986 "Construction of District Heating to 300 Residential Customers, St. Paul, Minnesota," Proceedings of the International District Heating Association 71-87 (June 1986).

1989 "District Energy St. Paul: Downtown Customers Bring Vision to Reality," District Heating and Cooling 75(2):17-18, 46-47 (4th Quarter 1989).

1999 The energy to make things better : an illustrated history of Northern States Power Company
Page 327: Today, NRG is a leading independent power producer (IPP) in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The company is the largest IPP in Australia, and in the United States, is one of the largest IPPs in the Northeast and in California. NRG also holds a top-three U.S. position in district heating and cooling, landfill gas to electricity generation and refuse-derived fuel production.
Page 341: NRG is the second largest district heating and cooling provider in the United States, with operations in Minnesota, California and Pennsylvania. The company also provides process steam through lines linking power plants with industrial customers.

2002 "Generating Power From Urban Wood Residuals," Biocycle 43(11):37-38 (November 2002)

2010 "Xcel Energy takes issue with District Energy over downtown St. Paul," St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 21, 2010
Xcel Energy is trying to pour cold water on District Energy St. Paul’s effort to expand its thermal heating pipes beyond downtown to a five-mile stretch along University Avenue, where District Energy could compete with Xcel for customers.
Nonprofit District Energy is proposing to lay underground pipes between the state Capitol and the border with Minneapolis while University Avenue is dug up for the proposed $1 billion Central Corridor light-rail line.
But Xcel, the state’s largest utility, already serves that area with electricity and natural gas, and it has been telling St. Paul-area business organizations and elected officials that if it loses customers to District Energy, remaining customers could be stuck with the bill as Xcel seeks to recover its investment in its gas and electric infrastructure in that area.
Xcel also notes the proposal hinges on obtaining a $17 million federal grant in the next few weeks to cover half the estimated $34 million cost. Xcel said that level of public subsidy makes the project’s worth questionable.
Xcel has sent a letter outlining its concerns to the Midway Chamber of Commerce after the chamber asked for its input on District Energy’s proposal.
Xcel also has informed the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, the city, District Energy and various elected officials of its worries, said Laura McCarten, regional vice president for Northern States Power-Minnesota, a division of Xcel.
McCarten declined to characterize her utility’s concerns as opposition to the project. Xcel is raising questions only about whether the project is necessary, she said.
“It’s really not all driven by us trying to retain any single customer,” McCarten said. “But when it comes to energy policy and planning, having a fully informed decision is the right way to go.”
By the estimates of District Energy, the Central Corridor is home to 120,000 people who consume energy equivalent to downtown St. Paul.
District Energy, created more than 25 years ago as an alternative to what was then called NSP, heats 185 downtown commercial buildings, or 80 percent of downtown’s structures, as well as the Capitol complex.
Officials at District Energy, a nonprofit utility, and the city of St. Paul are promoting the extension as a one-time opportunity to turn St. Paul’s portion of the light-rail line into a model for renewable energy. It would be unique by offering a wide menu of energy choices from which consumers can choose.
“St. Paul has an opportunity to lead,” said District Energy CEO Kenneth Smith. “This would be the first project of its kind anywhere in the United States.”
District Energy envisions the expansion as a way to deliver the renewable energy it already produces at its downtown biomass plant that burns tree trimmings.
In addition, District Energy is talking with paper recycler Rock Tenn to capture the heat it vents at its plant at the western edge of the city and divert it for the Central Corridor instead of letting it go to waste, Smith said.
In the future, the pipes potentially could carry energy produced by solar thermal projects, such as the one District Energy is installing on the roof of the RiverCentre auditorium downtown, and even energy produced by methane created by waste-digesting bacteria.
District Energy says it believes it can raise $17 million from foundations and bonds but that time is running out to get the other half of the funding.
In a letter it mailed Monday to the White House, District Energy said that unless it secures a $17 million grant by early November, “the window of opportunity will close” because the scheduled March construction start for the light-rail project cannot be delayed.
If the point is to bolster renewable energy, Xcel believes the project is unnecessary as well as expensive, McCarten said.
Minneapolis-based Xcel already has ways for customers to use renewable energy by buying clean electricity through its Solar Rewards and Windsource programs, she said.
Also, the utility said industry experts now believe natural gas will remain an abundant and cheap source of heat until 2030.
Xcel also reminded business leaders in its letter that it’s taken steps of its own to position the Central Corridor project as a renewable energy showcase. The utility has proposed, among other things, to install solar-powered charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles along University Avenue as a smart-grid demonstration.
St. Paul Policy Director Nancy Homans, Mayor Coleman’s point person for the Central Corridor project, said she was disappointed but not surprised by Xcel’s reaction to the District Energy proposal. “We shouldn’t be approaching this as an ‘I win-you lose’ situation,” she said.
The city and District Energy officials say the light-rail project will generate business and residential growth that will raise energy demands — in short, a larger pie both utilities can share.
Meanwhile, the city and District Energy await word from the White House, with President Obama scheduled to visit the Twin Cities on Saturday to stump for various Democrats, including gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton.
Federal officials have known about District Energy’s proposal for months, and Vice President Joe Biden was briefed on it by U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, DFL-St. Paul, during his recent campaign visit, city and District Energy officials said.
Neither the city nor District Energy officials are scheduled to talk to the president Saturday. Xcel Energy has not expressed its concerns to the White House, but it has informed McCollum of its position, McCarten said.