By Ben Antonius | Daily Republic | July 31, 2009
Dave Mathews, director of plant operations and general services for NorthBay Healthcare, looks at the control panel of one of two co-generation natural gas turbines recently installed at the NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield. A third co-generation turbine was installed at the VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville. Photo by Brad Zweerink
FAIRFIELD - On: Power-generating turbines. Off: Power purchases.
NorthBay Healthcare recently activated three co-generation natural gas turbines at its Fairfield and Vacaville locations that it expects to displace millions of dollars in power.
Co-generation plants are those that provide both energy -- electricity in this case -- and useful heat, rather than waste. The project was built with a $2.6 million loan from Siemens Building Technologies.
The typical life span of such a project is about 20 years, said Dave Mathews, director of plant operations and general services. The loan could likely be repaid in half that.
'You save enough in energy annually to repay the loan (in 10 years),' he said.
NorthBay will reap the benefits of any savings once the loan is repaid.
The project consists of three natural gas turbines -- two in Fairfield and one at NorthBay's VacaValley hospital -- that produce a combined 255 kilowatts of power.
NorthBay is also able to capture heat produced by the engines to heat water going into the hospital's boilers, meaning less natural gas has to be burned to boil the water.
See the complete story at the Daily Republic online.
