Healthcare Facilities And Hospitals: Why Microgrids Are Becoming Mission-Critical For Reliable Power

In the U.S., healthcare isn’t just a trillion-dollar industry—it’s a mission-critical sector where power reliability directly affects lives.

A well-known saying reminds healthcare professionals that “in the darkest moments, they become beacons of hope.” But no healthcare provider can shine in the dark—especially not without reliable electricity.

Traditionally, hospitals and clinics have depended on the utility grid and diesel backup generators to ensure uninterrupted care. Now, the industry is turning to a more resilient, cleaner option: microgrids. These on-site power systems are designed not only to keep facilities running during grid failures but also to lower emissions and cut long-term energy costs.

At the recent Microgrid Knowledge Conference in Dallas, a panel of experts from across the healthcare and energy sectors discussed how microgrids are transforming power resilience in medical facilities. The session was led by Rame Hemstreet, Chief Energy Officer and VP of Operations at Kaiser Permanente, which already operates a microgrid at its West Oahu, Hawaii medical office—developed by Ameresco.

Other panelists included:

• Jesus Mena, Senior Project Engineer at Ameresco
• Jamie Schnick, Senior Electrical Engineer, California Department of Health Care Access and Information
• Rocky Tanner, Principal, RTM Consulting
• Duc Bui, Principal, Salas O’Brien

These experts shared practical lessons, challenges, and innovations in healthcare-focused microgrid deployment.

There’s a popular saying in the industry that “if you’ve seen one microgrid, you’ve seen one microgrid.” These types of coordinated on-site power assets are not one size fits all and can be problematic throughout the project phase. What is the main part of microgrid development that is challenging specifically in the healthcare facility industry?

Jamie Schnick, California Department of Healthcare: The use of various types of on-on site energy producers and sizing of these units will need to be carefully selected and configured to provide power quality levels sufficient to optimize patient care spaces like diagnostic imaging suites and operating theatres.  These spaces have state-of-the-art equipment that can be very sensitive to power fluctuations or disturbances.  Prior to the use of microgrids, maintaining sufficient power quality was mainly a utility issue, by implementing microgrids the responsibility to maintain sufficient power quality levels will transfer to the engineers and operators of these systems.  Hospitals typically have large motors, and imaging machines which may have high inrush currents, that can negatively impact the power quality if not designed correctly.

Jesus Mena, Ameresco: There are many challenges that come with the design of a microgrid in the healthcare facility. Designing standalone PV systems or standalone energy storage systems is difficult but combining them amplifies their individual complexities and introduces a new challenge, configurable controller systems. The energy storage controller or charge controller is the “brain” that controls the dispatch of production, transfer of loads and configures the daily energy production variations. Designing the controller that will maintain the sequences of operations for the microgrid proves to be particularly challenging when you need to coordinate multiple DG sources as well as maintain existing back up sources such as generators.

Rame Hemstreet, Kaiser Permanente: There are two inter-related challenges:  1) properly sizing the microgrid to maximize economic benefit and avoid NEM, and 2) developing the avoided cost analysis over the lifetime of the microgrid—in other words how much will the facility pay for power over the next 15-20 years without a microgrid.  This also highlights an advantage of a microgrid: reduced risk.  The cost of grid power 5- to 10 to 15 years from now is (anyone’s guess), while the cost of a  solar+storage microgrid can be precisely calculated.

Hospitals seemingly have always had backup generators since those were a thing. . . How have the choices on resources evolved for healthcare on-site power and what drives those changes?

Jesus Mena, Ameresco: The evolution of energy generation and resources to generate energy has been impacted by the influence of the distribution utility limitations. It is an unfortunate reality that there are natural factors that are out of human control and affect the production of energy needed for critical facilities like hospitals. In locations like California, for example, there are imminent wildfire threats that promote the utility to shut down power (Public Safety Power Shutoffs), increasing the need for distributed generation. Furthermore, sources like backup generators need a constant supply of fuel to comply with a minimum number of hours of energy back up and during natural disaster events this limitation can be disastrous. By having distributed generation, you eliminate the need for fuel supply and circumvent challenges such as transportation, road access and supply logistics.

Rame Hemstreet, Kaiser Permanente: Health care services are also delivered from medical officer buildings/clinics that often have little or no back-up power.  Microgrids add resiliency as well as cost savings for these facilities.  For hospitals, they can reduce cost and GHG emissions.

Jamie Schnick, California Department of Healthcare: Most all hospitals in CA, existing and new, have cost constraints and limited space for siting equipment.  The recent code changes that permit Healthcare Microgrids to serve as Essential Power Sources allow owners to explore the options of spending money on green energy producers in lieu of a full complement of emergency generators.  This could reduce or even eliminate the need for emergency generators which would transfer the cost to equipment that operates 24/7 and might provide additional benefits, beyond resilience, such as lower operating costs.  Just as important as the potential costs savings is the space which could be repurposed.  Ideally the on-site green energy producers could be sited in the spaces previously reserved for emergency generators.

Lessons learned from health care microgrid projects which showed the way forward?

Duc Bui, Salas O’Brien: A) Get the Power Company approval process early and have their commitment and co-operate fully on the project. B) Demonstrate the reliability and the flexibility of the microgrid and ensure that the Life Safety, Critical and Essential Electrical Systems are protected by emergency power source; C)  Get all stakeholders, the owner, the facility engineering, the general contractor, electrical contractor, mechanical engineers, mechanical contractor and the mechanical control contractor and the commissioning agent participate with the team for the project. Perform the functional test and commissioning of the system. Provide training to the facility engineers of the operation and testing of the system.

Healthcare has so much to worry about and get right. Why is energy so important to the sector?

Jamie Schnick, California Department of Healthcare: There are many challenges regarding electrical power for healthcare facilities in California as we strive to be more sustainable. First, California’s energy costs are higher compared to other parts of the country. Second, wildfires and public safety power shutdowns (PSPS) have resulted in more frequent and longer-duration power outages than in years past. Third, there are concerns regarding sufficient grid capacity to support new healthcare construction. Either the upgrades to the grid infrastructure are more extensive and costly and/or multiple years out.  We can hope for the best but need to plan for the continued worsening of these conditions.  Healthcare microgrids provide an option to improve on all three of these areas in a sustainable manner.

Jesus Mena, Ameresco: Energy is a crucial factor for any industry, and for healthcare facilities that operate 24/7 with life support energy demands, this is not an exception. Healthcare establishments maintain critical care facilities and life support equipment that need a stable source of energy and cannot withstand “blips” in the energy distribution. It is critical that healthcare facilities operate under an exemplary energy system with sustainable production.

Rame Hemstreet, Kaiser Permanente: It is impossible to provide modern healthcare services without power.  While utilities constitute less than 1% of operating costs, their reliability is paramount.

Source: Microgrid Knowledge