Partners in the Combined Heat and Power Project pose during a celebration of the project, which included a cheque presentation from Festival Hydro to the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance.
On February 27, 2018 the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance (HPHA) celebrated its new Combined Heat and Power plant at its Stratford General Hospital site, which promises to reduce the hospital’s average annual utility bill by over $350,000. The plant became operational on January 12.
For the past two years, HPHA has been with working with WalterFedy, Festival Hydro, Culliton Inc., and EPS AB Energy Canada to develop and implement the CHP project.
“Hospitals are large energy consumers,” says Andrew Williams, President & CEO of HPHA. “With 24/7 energy demand including heating and cooling, the typical hospital uses up to three times the energy of a commercial building. Energy factors, from high costs and a high carbon footprint to the possibility of power losses, can have a major effect on the fiscal health of our hospitals.”
The CHP plant has the capacity to generate 1,137 KW of power for a total electrical output of nearly 9000 MWh per year. In comparison, a typical home in Ontario consumes roughly 8 to 10MWh per year. The new plant also provides supplemental on-site generated electrical power in the event of a major extended utility power outage.
The cost of the project is approximately $2.8 million. However this amount will be offset by $1 million thanks to an incentive provided by Festival Hydro, through Save on Energy program funds. In addition, the facility is expected to shave at least $350,000 per year from the facility’s utility bill.
Andrew Williams said the organization is estimating an over 85-per-cent reduction in our hydro consumption. “During the winter months we expect to be almost entirely off the grid,” he added.
Doug Biesinger, Director of Facilities Management, commented, “We’ve been working with our project partners over the last two years to get to this day. When we finally turned the system on to full operation, it was exciting to see our electricity meter drop from 1200KW down to 50KW only minutes after the engine started. That same day, one of our main heating boilers automatically shut down because the heat recovered from the CHP engine exhaust and cooling jacket was replacing that boilers’ output. It was extremely gratifying to actually see the almost instantaneous energy savings and to know that we can reinvest those saving into patient care.”