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Summary

When the University of Maryland Medical System decided to build a new medical center for the Washington, DC region it required a central plant capable of providing reliable power for their 600,000 square foot facility. The Capital Regional Medical Center will include over 200 inpatient rooms, a 45 bay emergency department, and eight operating rooms. The design of the medical center is based on extensive experience in health care operation and patient care from which a list of lessons learned was shared with the design architects and engineers. Part of the power plant design is the use of a hybrid system of onsite power generation including engine-generators for standby operation and a continuously operating engine-generator for combined heat and power (CHP) production. In normal operation the medical center will be powered by three feeders from the local utility. This utility power will be paralleled with the CHP generator. The CHP generator will be fueled by clean burning natural gas to produce 2.0 MWe of electricity at 480 VAC in addition to hot water to several heating loops distributed within the buildings. In the event of multiple utility feeders failing the diesel fueled standby generators (each rated at 2.0 MWe) will start, come up to speed, and power the common bus within ten seconds. The CHP generator will parallel to the bus and continue to power the common bus and produce the hot water as it did while in normal operation. Once the utility power is reestablished the standby generators will disconnect and shutdown while the CHP reconnects to the common bus now powered by the utility. This operational flexibility allows the facility to use the electrical and thermal energy produced by the CHP generator for greater efficiency and economic benefit as well as patient care and comfort.With the UMCRMC scheduled to be the area's leading health care facility the requirement for a reliable and flexible power plant is crucial to its success. A critical part of this plant is the CHP generator and its coordinated operation with the remainder of the plant to electrical and thermal energy during all modes of operation. This will allow the medial center to continuously provide patient care uninterrupted by any fluctuations in their power sources.

Session 7B: Innovative Central Plants 

Speaker

Gary Farmer, MTU Onsite Energy