St. Joseph’s preparing to construct heat and power plant

SYRACUSE  —  St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center will begin building a $15 million combined heat and power plant next year.

The power plant, planned for space at the hospital’s main campus in Syracuse beside its loading-dock building on North State Street, is set to be up and running by the end of 2014. It will generate both usable heat — steam and hot water — and electricity.

St. Joseph’s predicts the plant, a 4.5-megawatt natural-gas-fired turbine, will generate 25 million kilowatt hours annually. That’s enough to power about 3,600 homes over a year and will meet most of the hospital’s electricity requirements. National Grid and other onsite boilers will deliver any additional power, steam, and hot water St. Joseph’s requires.

“Our [combined heat and power] facility will generate electricity and heat for our buildings, as well as hot water and chilled water,” St. Joseph’s Facilities Engineer Edward Grabowski said in a news release. “In addition, it will allow us to continue our normal operations in the event of a power outage.”

Funding for the plant includes a $2 million incentive from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Other sources include bonding and cash reserves. The hospital expects the plant to pay for itself in seven to nine years.

St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center is a 431-bed nonprofit hospital and health-care system. It serves patients from Onondaga County and 15 surrounding counties.

Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com