Last week, Kaiser Permanente debuted what it said is the largest hospital-based renewable energy microgrid system in the U.S.
Housed at Kaiser’s Ontario Medical Center in Southern California, the system provides clean and reliable electrical power to the hospital. Because of its battery storage component, it will also serve as the initial emergency backup system during power outages.
Executives say that though outages in the area are rare, Ontario is a growing area with growing power demand. It also gets a lot of sun. That’s why it was the ideal location for the project. The solar array was funded by Kaiser. The battery storage was funded by the California Energy Commission and installed by Faraday Microgrids, which has worked with Kaiser on microgrid projects before. Faraday will operate the battery and share the cost savings with Kaiser.
The state is trying to grow on-site solar power generation and storage “so that the peaks and valleys in the demand that’s placed on the grid are leveled out a bit,” Ramé Hemstreet, Kaiser’s vice president of operations and chief energy officer, told Fierce Healthcare. “As the California grid moves to eventually 100% clean energy, there’s a need for interaction between the folks that use power like a hospital and the grid itself.”
The microgrid adds two megawatts of on-site solar generation and nine megawatt-hours of storage capacity. It also has the capacity to serve all the hospital’s emergency power needs for up to 10 continuous hours. After that, backup diesel generators kick in. The microgrid is estimated to avoid 650 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, equal to enough renewable power to sustain about 300 homes year-round.
“The battery allows us to store the [energy], even when the solar is producing more electricity than what the hospital needs,” Hemstreet said.
What’s unique about this battery is it is not lithium-ion, but rather zinc-bromide, he added. The latter uses materials more readily available than lithium-ion batteries and is not at risk of combustion. In all, its life cycle’s environmental footprint is significantly better.
“The microgrid saves us money, reduces our carbon footprint, provides additional reliability … and the battery is safer and has less of an environmental footprint,” Hemstreet noted.
There is a growing recognition in the healthcare industry that stakeholders should responsibly use energy in service of their communities, given that pollution is linked to increased risk of chronic illness and death. The healthcare sector is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for nearly 9% of the total in the U.S. In 2023, the Joint Commission introduced a voluntary sustainability certification program for hospitals.
Kaiser went carbon neutral in 2020, meaning its carbon emissions are offset by renewable energy credits and carbon offsets. This is thanks to efforts like purchasing utility-scale electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar, installing solar arrays at 118 of its sites and purchasing carbon offsets.
Of the 118 sites with solar power, four have battery storage today, and the health system is looking to expand that. Two new Kaiser hospitals under construction in San Jose and Sacramento will have on-site solar power production and battery storage, Hemstreet said. A green microgrid is already under construction at a Kaiser medical office in Fresno and will debut later this year.
Kaiser has also pledged to become net zero across all emissions by 2050. Its midterm target is to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030. Kaiser, the health system claims, was the first to install a renewable microgrid in the state in 2017 at its Richmond Medical Center. Faraday was also involved in that project.
“Every day, we look for new ways to improve the total health of our members and the communities we serve,” Georgina Garcia, SVP and San Bernardino County area manager of Kaiser Permanente in Southern California, said in a press release. “We know if other hospital systems in the region join us in this effort, we can reduce our industry’s environmental burden, ensuring a healthier future for every resident in the Inland Empire.”