For most of us, a
trip to the hospital is no casual affair. Whether you’re on your way to the
emergency room or stopping by to visit a friend or family member, chances are
the last thing on your mind is the hospital’s backup power system. Yet we all
know that one little surge or glitch—let alone a full-scale blackout or grid
failure—can not only stall the computers and dim the lights, but can impact a
lifesaving piece of equipment or impede a critical medical procedure.
The Joint
Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has long recognized
the importance of critical backup systems and actually requires that all
healthcare facilities participate in an emergency-power testing program that
includes generator load testing and Emergency Power Supply System (EPSS)
maintenance. In addition, the commission requires monthly testing of standby
power generation systems at 30% load for 30 minutes. Finally, hospital power
systems must be able to operate around the clock (with full redundancy) and
provide switchover of power within 10 seconds (in the event of power
interruption), and all hospitals must rely on a combination of utility and
generator backup power to satisfy redundancy requirements.
My office
is less than a mile away from Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, and so I’ve
witnessed the facility’s ongoing remodel and reconstruction firsthand over the
couple of years. While I knew the hospital planned on updating its power
systems, I only just became aware of exactly what’s been going on the new
buildings—particularly a Spanish-style complex that just happens to house an
onsite power plant comprising chillers, boilers, and generators.
According to an article
in today’s Pacific Coast Business
Times, t
he new onsite power system’s “fire-resistant 29,000-square-foot center contains
the distribution hubs for all steam, electrical power, medical gases, and
chilled water to serve the needs of patients, visitors, staff, physicians, and
volunteers.” Overall, it’s an impressive setup: three separate boilers whose
steam not only heats the hospital and sterilizes surgical instruments but also
supplies hot water and power a steam chiller; two water chillers that provide
air conditioning and cool water (one of the chillers is powered by steam and
thus able to operate off the grid during peak hours); and four emergency diesel
generators. Additionally, a “24-foot-long natural-gas train of seismic valves
and meters monitors the distribution of gas to the
hospital.”
And when backup is not
needed, the local power company supplies energy through two separate grids—with
the option to switch back and forth should the regional grid become inoperable.
This new plant is the largest of its kind in Santa Barbara County, and hospital
officials anticipate it will be twice as efficient as the hospital’s former
power plant.