Renewable Microgrid for a Medical Center
A clean, renewable microgrid can allow hospital to provide critical care during emergencies
Charge Bliss, Inc.
Recipient
Irvine, CA
Recipient Location
37th
Senate District
73rd
Assembly District
$4,776,171
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
In 2018, the Charge Bliss team continued to make adjustments to the microgrid controller software developed under the agreement to optimize the hospital's energy savings and to increase system run time to 98%. There has been a considerable amount of publicity and information shared with the public. Since the opening ceremony, the project has been highlighted in several articles from local media to industry magazines. The team has performed several presentations to interested groups including the California Society of Hospital Engineers (CSHE) and the Hospital Building Safety Board (HBSB), a division of California's Office of Statewide Health Planning & Development (OSHPD). The final report was received and is available online.
The Issue
California needs to make better use of locally available renewable energy to increase resiliency and address climate change impacts such as increased fires, severe storms, and heatwaves. Critical facilities, such as hospitals, are especially vulnerable to climate change impacts that disrupt the normal delivery of energy needed for their operation. Microgrids can help increase the resiliency of critical facilities such as hospitals through maximizing use of local renewable energy with energy storage.
Project Innovation
This project is demonstrating the ability of a microgrid to support and sustain the functions of a healthcare facility and to overcome barriers to its deployment. The Charge Bliss team successfully designed, engineered, procured, constructed, and commissioned the microgrid systems at the Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Richmond, California. This included developing a next-generation microgrid controller capable of optimizing renewable energy generation, storage, and delivery and islanding and providing critical system support.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This project demonstrates the value of a microgrid to healthcare facilities, including the reduction in energy costs, which are substantial for healthcare facilities, and the ability to support life and safety functions for three hours or longer to supplement existing backup generation and improve the energy reliability of hospitals in crisis situations. In collaboration with the governing agency Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD), the CEC and Charge Bliss are forging new methods and standards to support the resiliency and autonomy of critical healthcare facilities. This project helps inform deliberation of the requirement for healthcare facilities to have diesel backup.
Affordability
The project is projected to save the hospital nearly 20 percent of its baseline utility cost annually.
Environmental Sustainability
Use of the microgrid is expected to provide environmental benefits by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 214 tons of carbon dioxide per year through the use of renewables.
Key Project Members
David Bliss
David Bliss
Subrecipients
The Regents of California, San Diego
Bay Area Air Quality Management District
OSISoft, LLC
Charge Bliss Construction California, Inc. DBA Faraday Microgrids
Florida State University
Mazzetti, Inc.
Skelly Electric Inc.
Dersch Design & Engineering
Pacific Design Architecture, Inc.
SunPower Corporation, Systems
Match Partners
Princeton Power Systems, Inc.
OSISoft, LLC
Kaiser Permanente National Facilities Services
