Microgrids - Solar

DOE grant to accelerate CA children’s hospital microgrid

DOE grant to accelerate CA children’s hospital microgrid
Artist's rendering of the future solar field on Valley Children's Hospital campus in Madera (Credit: Valley Children's Hospital)

Valley Children’s Healthcare launched a plan earlier this year to design, build, and implement a clean energy strategy that would ensure that patient care is not interrupted due to power outages, electrical grid failures, or other events that would limit the hospital’s ability to provide care to children. The plan is also meant to reduce costs and help clean up the air in one of America’s most polluted counties.

This week, the project received some additional assistance.

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced that Valley Children’s, the California Energy Commission (CEC) and Faraday Microgrids are the recipients of a long-duration energy storage demonstrations grant to accelerate and expand the healthcare network’s clean energy storage capabilities. This microgrid at Valley Children’s is one of just 15 projects chosen as part of the DOE’s $325 million commitment to fund similar projects nationwide that promote the adoption of renewable energy resources and advance clean air technologies. Valley Children’s microgrid will consist of solar photovoltaic materials, fuel cells, and battery storage.

“At the heart of Valley Children’s sustainability plan is our kids. Valley Children’s must ensure we always have a source of energy to care for them and their families under any circumstance or through any disruption – and we have a responsibility to improve the communities where our children live, learn and play,” says Valley Children’s President and CEO Todd Suntrapak. “The Department of Energy grant represents a transformative moment for Valley Children’s and for our communities, and places us at the forefront of creating safe, effective and reliable power systems for hospitals here and around the world.”

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Valley Children’s project, to be engineered by Mazzetti and built by renewable microgrid developer, Faraday Microgrids, is expected to receive $30 million from the DOE and an additional $25 million from the CEC. At the project’s completion, Valley Children’s is projected to operate the largest renewable energy microgrid in the country, connected to a hospital emergency system.

Over the next several months, the DOE, CEC, Faraday Microgrids and Valley Children’s will finalize the terms of the grant.

Meanwhile, work continues on phase 1 of Valley Children’s renewable energy microgrid. When online and operational in 2025, the renewable energy microgrid will reduce reliance on the traditional power grid, ensuring Valley Children’s Hospital and buildings on its campus remain operational in the event of power outages in the region. It will also cut carbon emissions by more than 50%.

Valley Children’s, one of the first hospitals to sign the White House-HHS Health Sector Climate Pledge, has also committed to achieving net zero by the year 2050, meaning the entire campus will produce no carbon emissions.