LLUAHSC SCOPE Summer 2001

LLU Medical Center copes with California energy crisis

[SCOPE, Summer 2001]

The darkened hallways at Loma Linda University Medical Center and Children's Hospital may be the only obvious indication in Loma Linda of the electricity crisis currently enveloping the state of California.

The Medical Center has so far remained more or less unscathed by the crisis because rolling brownouts or blackouts have not affected the sector that the facility relies on to supply its power.

Unlike many schools, businesses, and even some hospitals in the area, LLUMC does not have an interruptible service contract with Southern California Edison (SCE). Such contracts, many signed years ago, offer businesses a reduced electricity rate if they agree to shut down operations as needed for a specified number of times per year.

In addition to the co-generating facility run by University power plant, LLUMC's emergency generators supply the emergency back-up power required by state law for all licensed hospitals. In the event of a power loss, the emergency power system will activate automatically within 10 seconds and restore power to critical patient care equipment and safety lighting.

Because of the co-generation facility, LLUMC also has the ability to operate independently of SCE if the need arises.

Operating indefinitely on its own

co-generator would require an "austere operating mode." For example, facilities such as the Proton Treatment Center might be asked to cut back on their hours of operation. LLUMC would also implement a drastic lighting restriction program to limit power consumption and allow LLUMC to stay within its generating capacity. If such a program was implemented during the warmer months, employees would likely be asked to set their office thermostats to 78 degrees in order to conserve power.

Although the Medical Center has not been affected by the rolling brownouts or blackouts that have affected the rest of the state, officials have established an emergency power reduction protocol to deal with various alerts issued by the Independent System Operator (ISO), the California organization that determines how power is apportioned on the state's grid.

In the event of a blackout, there is a chance that LLUMC's co-generator may not be on-line and immediately available to provide power. In this event, the Medical Center's emergency generators would activate within ten seconds and supply power to essential circuits.

While non-critical areas would be in the dark until the co-generator came back on-line, computer and equipment in patient care areas is connected to an uninterruptible power supply and therefore will not be affected by a power loss.

[SCOPE, Summer 2001]