The struggling economy appears to be the reason why Eastern decided to put its Renewable Energy Center project on hold.

President Bill Perry released a statement Tuesday explaining why the $40 million project was put on hold.

“During the development of the project, an unforeseen factor, the current economic downturn, has adversely affected the feasibility of the project,” Perry said in the statement. “Specifically, credit markets have in the past few weeks considerably tightened.”

The center would have replaced the steam plant, which was built around 1925.

Construction for the center, which was derived from Eastern’s energy audit that revealed $80 million in energy savings, was slated for the spring semester.

The center was supposed to commission in Fall 2010.

Those plans are now put on hold.

Perry was out of the office Tuesday and will be today and Thursday, as well.

Jill Nilsen, vice president for external relations, said Eastern had a variety of reasons why it decided to announce plans to build a new energy center, despite the economic climate.

“We had done the planning. We had a contract with Honeywell. We had some pricing in place that we knew would be guaranteed through the middle of January,” she said. “In order to get that pricing, it was thought that we’d go forward.”

Honeywell International was contracted for $250,000 to conduct the energy audit, which took place this semester and concluded in early October.

“We didn’t see a rebounding of the markets to get better financing costs,” Nilsen said of the decision to put the project on hold.

Eastern intended to present a contract bid with Honeywell for construction of the new center at Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting. In his statement, Perry said that item has been removed from the board’s agenda.

Nilsen said planning for the project went on for several months. After the planning started, Eastern saw the economy change, she added.

“The hope was things would get better by now, but they haven’t,” Nilsen said. “It just makes good fiscal sense to wait a little bit longer in time.”

Along with the energy center, the audit revealed other projects Eastern planned on doing, such as building a small wind turbine farm and replacing windows in the South Quad residence halls and Stevenson Hall.

Nilsen said she believes those projects are also put on hold.

Perry said alternative funding sources for a steam plant replacement are being considered. Nilsen said she does not know any of the sources being reviewed.

As for the tightened credit market, Nilsen deferred to Jeff Cooley, vice president for business affairs, about the state of the market.

Cooley was unavailable for comment.

Nilsen said the energy center project is delayed for now. Perry, in his statement, did not mention when the project could be re-enacted.

“For us to do the kind of financing that we need to do for that project, it is just not the right time,” she said. “It doesn’t look like it is going to get better immediately.”

Nilsen added Eastern would wait until the economy stables to go ahead with the project.

The steam plant has aged considerably and seen recent breakdowns, most notably the breakdown of coal boilers last winter that resulted in increased heating costs for Eastern.

Additionally in his statement, Perry said he would be forming a group to review locations of future Eastern facilities detailed in the Campus Master Plan.

During Eastern’s three informational meetings about the Renewable Energy Center, many Charleston residents voiced concerns about the location of the center, which would have been located at the intersection of 18th Street and Edgar Drive.

Community members will be sought for the group.

“The community will have representation on the task force that works on the update (of the master plan),” Perry said.

The Council on University Planning and Budget suggested an update to the master plan in Spring 2008.

Stephen Di Benedetto can be reached at 581-7942 or at [email protected].