 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
PROJECTS - Energy |
|
Commitment to a Community Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital (SVMH) was built in 1953 and it is in a public hospital district. SVMH has a strong commitment to the community, and the environment. They wanted to decrease their dependence on the utility grid by supplying part of their own power with the additional goals of reducing green house emissions and reducing the amount of heat build-up on the their structure. The project includes the installation of a 150 kW photovoltaic solar energy system, four 250 kW cogenerations unit and two 1500 kW generator sets. These systems generate hot water supporting on-site laundry services, provide backup energy for power failures, and offset the amount of power drawn from the public utility grid. A unique aspect of the project was the design and installation of a large SolarPort on top of the hospital parking garage. The SolarPort was installed on the roof of the Downing Resource Center (a combination four-story parking structure with an administration facility on the lower level). It provides shading for approximately eighty cars. The project uses high performance, advanced technology with 1008 Shell Solar SP-150 solar modules comprising 14,304 square feet of solar surface area. The direct current power is directed through two Xantrex inverters which convert the power to AC to offset the peak power needs of the hospital. The project provides approximately two-thirds of the power drawn by the Downing Resource Center in the day time.
Both the SolarPort and the cogeneration assets qualified for Self-Generation funding through PG&E. This enabled SVMH to achieve a competitive return on the total project. Below is the amount of fossils fuels saved and air pollution prevented over this system's 30-year life:
|
