With FME's Help, Hospital Takes Care of Itself
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August 2nd, 2006
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Under Its Own Power
By Hillary Wundrow
Beloit Daily News staff writer
When Beloit Memorial Hospital Construction Coordinator Ray Bressler gets the call from Wisconsin Power & Light Co. to stop using electricity, he just sits back and waits for the generators to kick on. "I don't even have to press a button," Bressler said.
As Wisconsin Power & Light Company hits peak usage, Beloit Memorial Hospital had to switch over to its mammoth generators for power on Monday and
Tuesday. The hospital is one of 110 businesses in Wisconsin that have agreed to be an "interruptable" electric customer. Whenever Alliant Energy, the holding company for Wisconsin Power & Light,
contacts the hospital, it must stop using the Alliant electricity within seven minutes or face a stiff penalty. Businesses volunteering to become interruptable customers get reduced electric rates from Wisconsin Power & Light. Being part of the program's reduced rates saved the hospital $76,693 from August 2005 to July 2006.
By agreeing to go off the system, businesses free up energy for other customers in times of high demand. The conservation of energy saves money in the long run because Alliant Energy doesn't have to build additional plants.
Although pulling the plug could be difficult for some businesses, at Beloit Memorial Hospital it's a seamless transition. "You don't feel a thing," said Rob Pavlik, engineering manager. "It's 100 percent
seamless. It automatically transfers over and there are no power failures in the building."
On Monday the hospital relied strictly on its own power from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Tuesday the hospital used its owner power from 2 to 6 p.m. The room-sized machines aren't the typical hospital backup generators. Beloit Memorial Hospital purchased the opposing piston (OP) engines from Fairbanks- Morse back in 2000.
The engines have a duel-fuel system, running on natural gas and diesel fuel. In an emergency, the hospital could use its 26,000-gallon underground tank filled with diesel fuel. The reserve could power the hospital for four days until other resources are located.
For several years the hospital ran the generators constantly, producing its own power. Because the generators use natural gas and diesel, it became more difficult to use them as natural gas prices escalated.
Now the generators are only used a few days a year when Alliant requests. When used, they produce more than double the power needed for the hospital.
Extra energy is sold back to Alliant. The energy is then used to power the neighborhood. On Monday and Tuesday the generators were serving the entire hospital load plus 420 residential customers, 40 commercial customers and six industrial customers.
On Tuesday morning, for example, the generators were producing a total of 3,025 kilowatts of energy but were shipping 1,185 kilowatts back to Alliant.
"The ability to work with Alliant Energy and being able to help Alliant provide reliable energy to the community is exciting," Pavlik said. "As a hospital
community service is one of the things we focus on. |
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