Standby Power for NHS Hospital

Project scope

The end user for this project was an NHS Hospital, they required full decommissioning and upgrade of their old backup power system. They had a 25-year-old diesel generator to provide standby power for the hospital in case of power cuts, surges etc. However, due to the age of the genset and changes in the hospital’s power requirments, the system was less than reliable. In the case of a power cut, our generator system will provide electricity for a newly installed MRI scanner, several wards and the hospital’s outpatient clinic.

With a NHS appointed consultant, we began the design of the standby power supply system. We presented the client with multiple potential solutions, one being a single large openset generator in plant room. Option two was a twin set synch specification generator system in the plantroom. The most suitable option was 3, a containerised genset in the space available outside the building. This was also the most cost effective option.

With several design meetings and site visits,we created a system that redued civil works in the plant room and avoids excessive cable run and oversized cable with a clever cable and containment route. We also reduced labour cost on the backs of this. It was vital for us that the system and site were future-proofed to accomodate demand for years to come.

The final system includes a Perkins-powered 1250kVA diesel generator with an extended fuel tank and supersilent upgrade. It also has a water jacket heater and external junction box all housed into a 40ft container.

AFTERSALES

We decommissioned their current generator and then fully instaled and commissioned teir new one. Then we conducted extensive onsite training with NHS maintenance team, covering general operation tips, small and quick trouble shooting, identifying and preventing warnings and failures, safety operation and more. This training will reduce vital operational losses for the hospital.

Considering this, every project has it’s own challenges and we were faced with incorrectly sized HV transformers to the grid supply. Thankfully, the generator was installed at this point and therefore able to power the site for more than 24 hours whilst the HV engineers fitted a new transformer.

From the initial site survey meeting to the final completion, it took 6 months.

Once again, our team was really proud to complete and handover another milestone project for a local NHS hospital complex. We can only achieve this by being proactive and providing consistent factory and site performance!

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