Oregon Institute of Technology moved their campus to the present location in the early 1960s to take advantage of the geothermal hot water that could be used for heating the buildings. Three wells between 1200 and 1800 feet (365 and 550 m) deep were drilled, producing 192oF (89oC) water at a maximum flow of 600 gpm (38 L/s). There are presently 12 buildings being geothermally heated covering approximately 763,400 ft2 (70,900 m2) of floor space, saving approximately $1,000,000 annually in heating costs. Line-shaft pumps with variable frequency drives are used to produce the geothermal fluids from the well, and then the hot water is gravity fed to all buildings on campus. Plate heat exchangers are located in each building to separate the potentially corrosive geothermal fluids from the secondary “clean” water for heating the various rooms. The geothermal water is finally injected into two injection wells located approximately 2,050 feet (625 m) from the production wells. Future plans are to install a 280 kW binary power plant using the existing well water to provide some of the electricity needs for campus. In addition, a 6,000 foot (1,800 m) deep well is being drilled to tap into an estimated 300oF (150oC) geothermal resource in the fault system on the east edge of campus. The fluids would be used to power a 1.5 to 3.0 MWe binary plant to provide all the electricity needs for campus. Thus, the campus would become the first in the world to provide 100% of its energy needs from a geothermal resource found on its property. Finally, the “waste” fluid from the heating system would be used to provide heat for experimental greenhouses and aquaculture facilities on campus. All of these future uses would be available for student projects and as a demonstration site for interested investors and developers of geothermal energy.

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