Australia
Echuca Regional Health
Hospital
This Echuca Regional Health case study is based on a project developed in Enel X Australia.
Echuca Regional Health
Echuca Regional Health is a full-service hospital in Australia, providing a comprehensive range of 24-hour emergency room, acute, medical, surgical and sub-acute services plus residential aged care and a broad range of community healthcare services.
Echuca Regional Health is widely recognized throughout the region for its holistic and progressive approach to energy management and sustainability, with a proven innovation track record.
Echuca Regional Health features one of the largest solar thermal arrays in Australia, providing not only heating but also absorption cooling to the hospital’s high-efficiency HVAC system, 1.2MW of thermal energy storage which is utilized for peak demand management, and a new 500kW solar photovoltaic array that is currently underway.
In addition, the hospital has been utilizing its backup generators to participate in a Virtual Power Plant (VPP).
VPP is a collection of distributed energy assets including backup generators, batteries, and flexible loads that work together to provide additional dispatchable capacity to the grid. VPPs are called into operation for short durations when large power stations suddenly fail, when demand outweighs supply, or when climatic events threaten grid stability.
Mark Hooper, Executive Project Manager at Echuca Regional Health said VPP participation is a natural fit for the hospital. "Participation helps us enhance site resilience in the face of a weakening grid, and earn significant new revenue which can be reinvested into backup power infrastructure to further enhance system reliability."
In Australia, the rapid uptake of renewable energy and the retirement of coal thermal power plants is impacting grid reliability. The grid needs additional flexible capacity from alternate sources such as VPPs to help stabilize the grid, reduce power prices, and prevent broader power outages.
VPP participation provides a unique benefit of advanced notification of potential grid disruptions. Hooper said, “We expect the grid to be reliable and clearly it’s not. We need to ensure our facility is available for its core purpose of providing primary healthcare 24-7-365. With participation, we get advanced warning of grid instability, which is advantageous as we can prepare for a grid event and don’t have to experience a break in power if an outage occurs.”
“We view VPP participation as another way of keeping our patients safe. If we know there’s a response request coming, it allows us to fire up our generator and get off the grid, preventing interruption to power."“We have full site generator backup for the hospital and can synchronize with the grid to take ourselves offline. This means a seamless transition where the site doesn’t experience unscheduled interruptions during events. The fact that joining the VPP allows us to also get paid to respond to these events, it’s a win-win scenario," he added.
By participating in a VPP, Echuca Regional Health can regularly test its backup power capabilities at times and in conditions when grid emergencies are most likely to occur, providing the truest test of emergency preparedness and resilience to grid disruptions. Hooper said, “A benefit is that you run your generators during a time you’re likely running a hefty load. The key is, you’re being asked to run your generator when the grid still has power. It’s an excellent tool for testing and ironing out any assumptions made around reliability at a time when you wouldn’t normally run your generator.”
“The reality is that if the grid fails, it’s probably going to be on a hot summer day right when you don’t want it to. VPP participation gives us the strength of conviction to know on a hot day where we’re running a high load, that our generators can do the job.”
“There have been events where through this program we’ve found some issues we didn’t know existed, and the consequence has been far less than had it occurred at a time when we’d lost power. So, ironing out those problems means that when you lose power and need to run your generator sets, you know the resilience is there because all those issues are sorted.”
“We’re required to run our generators on load anyway, so if we’re doing it already as part of VPP participation, then we can then defer our weekly test because we’ve already met the requirements of the Australian standards to test them on load.” he added.
VPPs respond quickly to deviations in the grid’s frequency when a large power station or transmission network suddenly fail, to prevent cascading grid failures. Echuca Regional Health participates in this program, which also helps the hospital to protect its sensitive equipment.
Hooper said, “When there’s a frequency event, the VPP automatically switches the site over to our generator. We have electronic equipment that’s sensitive to voltage spikes and frequency deviations. If the grid doesn’t meet it’s required parameters, then we trip off. This helps us because we don’t have groups of interruptions that destroy our sensitive electronic equipment, by short sharp interruptions to power. We were already doing something similar, so it made sense to join this program and get paid for it.”
Echuca Regional Health is providing what the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has stated is an urgent need for new forms of capacity on the power grid. Echuca Regional Health is providing what the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has stated is an urgent need for new forms of capacity on the power grid.
Hooper said, “We’re a small user, the VPP is about a lot of one percenter coming together to help out. I’ve been encouraging my colleagues to participate because most of our sites have generators and have to test them anyway, so we might as well run them and get paid for it.”
“I know some have used the income to increase the size of their fuel supply. Others have used it to install automatic switching or upgrade their PLCs. It’s a win-win because the reliable capacity that we can provide to the grid is improved by putting the money back into improving the reliability of our own backup systems.”
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