On Friday, July 20 the opening celebration event for the Charge Bliss renewable microgrid was held at the Kaiser Permanente hospital in Richmond, CA.
Attendees included dignitaries from the California Energy Commission, Kaiser executive management, and microgrid enthusiasts and clean technology supporters.
The event also included an in-depth technical “deep dive” detailing the technology integration and was featured in local CBS affiliate KPIX’ TV newscasts that evening.
The unique project has been featured in publications such as USA Today, GreenBiz, and Microgrid Knowledge.
In February 2015 Charge Bliss was awarded $4.8 million to design, build, and operate a renewable energy microgrid at a complex healthcare facility. funds originated from the California Energy Commission, and Charge Bliss also beat out two University of California schools for the grant funds.
A renewable microgrid – an electric grid separate from the local utility grid – enables the hospital to generate, store, and use clean, sustainable, and renewable electricity in case of power outages, while working in tandem or independently of the existing electrical grid, respectively.
Thanks to the extraordinary vision of the California Energy Commission and through its $4.77M in EPIC funding, Charge Bliss was able to build the first-of-its-kind system for a California hospital.
Charge Bliss CEO David Bliss, MD, stated that “A deep debt of gratitude is owed to the entire Kaiser Permanente group for their willingness to be the host site for the project and for their collaboration to realize an outcome that frankly far exceeds any predicted at the outset. Some of the many noteworthy contributors included Mr. Drew Bohan, Executive Director of the Energy Commission, Laurie Tenhope, the Director of Research at the Energy Commission, Jeff Collins, Senior Vice-President at Kaiser Permanente, and Seth Baruch, Vice President of National Facility Services.”
Some highlights regarding the project:
• The first renewable energy microgrid interconnected to the LIfe and Safety Branch of the hospital (Emergency Power)
• Unprecedented facility savings from the synergistic application of load management, energy arbitrage, and time-shifting of solar energy usage
• The novel, innovative Charge Bliss supervisory microgrid controller capable of automatic and continuous optimization of performance and comprehensive visibility into systems effectiveness.
• 250kw solar PV structures utilizing Sunpower modules, 1 mWh battery storage (SamsungTM), Princeton PowerTM inverters, LED lighting.
Dr. Bliss summarized that Charge Bliss looks forward to continuing the work of expanding the role and value of renewable energy microgrids for institutions, communities, and businesses across the State and beyond.
The system will produce approximately 365,000 kWh of clean energy annually.
It will demonstrate aggregated revenue streams and savings through the value of usage and peak demand reduction ($280,000/yr, $60,000/yr respectively), automated demand response with PG&E ($200/kW, 4 times/year, 100kW) = $80,000/yr), and CAISO market participation estimated to be worth over $100,000/year.
This watershed project is the only renewable energy microgrid at a California hospital.
