OAKLAND, Calif. — A newly unveiled microgrid system at the Kaiser Permanente Ontario Medical Center in Southern California will add 2 megawatts (MW) of on-site solar generation and 9 megawatt hours (MWh) of non-lithium battery storage capacity to the state’s electrical grid. The system, which is the country’s largest hospital-based renewable microgrid, will increase reliability and support the state’s transition to 100% renewable energy by 2045.
The microgrid also features a 1-MW fuel cell, which will further improve environmental health and reduce costs while providing clean energy. Together, system components will provide reliable electrical power for the hospital’s day-to-day use and will serve as the initial emergency power backup system during commercial power outages. The system has the capacity to serve all the hospital’s emergency power needs for 10 continuous hours.
The project builds on Kaiser Permanente’s longstanding environmental stewardship efforts, as the organization achieved carbon-neutral status in 2020 and has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050—with a midterm target to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030…