Hospitals and other healthcare providers need to have uninterruptible electricity or patients will suffer and could even die if power is shut off. Unfortunately diesel generators are the usual method of power backup. They are polluting, release greenhouse gases, and also expensive to run with diesel fuel prices currently.
Advanced microgrids have many advantages as backup power generation: reduced costs, clean power free of GHGs, and increased resilience in the face of disasters, for example.
Generator failures at hospitals are a real risk, such as breakdowns during hurricanes Katrina, Irene, and Sandy. The worst cases involved large evacuations of patients. Continuity of electrical supply is essential for patient safety. From an electrical distribution perspective, this means not losing power and making sure that critical life-sustaining equipment is always operational. At the same time, increasing power demand, aging electrical transmission systems, and more frequent violent storms are all making grid stability issues a concern to utility management across the world.
Hospitals in particular have high power needs. This has been estimated at 2.5 times that of a commercial building of the same size. It is obvious when you think of the large amount of equipment a hospital uses, often running 24/7 to keep patients in a positive condition.
A localized microgrid can supply all the needed energy assets from generation to loads, in close proximity to the hospital, to serve multiple buildings and needs. Normally these are connected to the main utility grid, drawing energy from the utility when economically advantageous, using a combination of utility power and on-site energy resources. Microgrids are also configured with the ability to disconnect and run in a self-contained mode when the situation calls for such “islanding”. By utilizing the most effective control technology, microgrids are significantly better in most respects than old-fashioned diesel generators.
For hospitals, microgrids provide better value services, by enabling use of CHP, CCHP, renewables, fuel cells, and energy storage. They help maximize resilience, reduce costs, and ensure sustainability, with advanced energy analytic capabilities that help optimize and balance the use of grid versus on-site energy resources. Microgrids are the modern solution to the energy challenges that healthcare providers face. They are also more affordable and easier to actualize than ever before.