Source: Rolls-Royce

A Level-1 trauma center in Staten Island, New York is adding a natural gas-fueled onsite cogeneration plant so the hospital can produce its own power.

Rolls-Royce is providing two combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) trigeneration units for Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC). The system is expected to provide the hospital’s daily power needs, while generating steam for hot water, heating and air conditioning.

The project will begin powering the hospital in Fall 2022, hospital officials said.

Rated at 1.5MW each, the CCHP units are to be housed in a former laundry facility adjacent to the hospital. The project is being managed by developer Innovative Energy Strategies (IES) and is part of RUMC’s multi-million dollar expansion.

While RUMC will remain connected to the grid, the cogeneration plant will allow it to become self-sufficient, especially during emergency situations. The hospital has recognized the need for an alternative power supply system following outages caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

“Given that RUMC is the only hospital on Staten Island not in a flood zone, the ability to maximise hospital resilience by being energy self-sufficient was of major importance,” an RUMC spokesperson said.