Combined Heat And Power Educational Services, University Of Illinois Hopsital - Case Study

A major hospital that treats critically ill patients cannot afford power failures. Facing intermittent power problems - and needing to replace old boilers -the 536-bed University of Illinois Hospital installed a 24 MWe cogeneration system for its campus in Chicago. Powered by three (3) Taurus 70 natural gas turbine generator sets, the system fulfills 100 percent of campus power needs in winter and 72 percent in summer. The system provides low-cost steam for space heating and domestic water heating for 32 campus buildings. It also supplies heat for medical equipment sterilization and food preparation and delivers summer cooling through several absorption chillers. If utility power fails, the Solar* turbine generators can operate in island mode, disconnected from the grid.