Emergency backup system provides customized sophisticated control functions

By Russelectric

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005, the U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) initiated a major program to upgrade emergency/backup power systems at VA hospitals in hurricane zones. James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, located in Tampa, Florida, completed a major power plant renovation as part of the national upgrade. The $47 million renovation to the power plant includes a backup system capable of covering all electrical loads for 120 hours (without refueling) in an event of an outage. Included in the upgrade was a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system from Russelectric, which provides round the clock customized interactive monitoring, trending, distributed networking, alarm management, and reporting capabilities for the entire power system.

Haley Hospital awarded the bid for the SCADA system to Russelectric, based in Hingham, Massachusetts, which provided power control switchgear, transfer switches, and SCADA for the emergency backup system. The system provides sophisticated control functions, including emergency/standby power, peak shaving, load curtailment, utility paralleling, cogeneration, and prime power.

VA upgrades emergency system in response to Hurricane Katrina

James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, a teaching hospital affiliated with the adjacent University of South Florida College of Medicine, provides a full range of patient services with state-of-the-art technology and research. Haley is the busiest of four national VA polytrauma facilities. It has 415 beds, plus another 118 beds in an onsite long-term care and rehabilitation facility. The system also includes four outpatient clinics serving a four-county area.

As part of the national emergency/backup power system upgrade, Haley Hospital completed a major power plant renovation. One of the key project goals was to ensure continuous air conditioning as well as operation of life-safety and other critical equipment.

The hospital’s former backup power system included nine on-site generators, but could still only cover life-safety loads (45 percent of the total load) in the event of a utility outage. According to Haley’s electrical shop supervisor Bill Hagen, the old system resulted in major headaches, especially its dynamic matrix control. “We had nothing but problems with it,” he recalls. “We never got it to work in parallel. It couldn’t even generate a monthly testing report.”

In contrast, the new backup system covers all electrical loads for 120 hours without refueling. It handles every load for 9 buildings, 15 trailers that make up an on-campus clinic, and a parking garage – with just 7 generators. Each of the new 13,200-VAC Caterpillar diesel generators produces 2,200 kilowatts (kW) of power.

Another improvement is the hospital’s renovated fuel system. The former system had a capacity of 22,000 gallons, and the storage tanks were spread out over several locations. The new tank farm has four 12,000-gallon tanks. With another 6,000-gallon tank under each generator, the system now has a total capacity of 90,000 gallons.

New SCADA system provides customized round the clock monitoring and reporting

The system includes a state-of-the-art SCADA system, which features software and screen displays customized by Russelectric for the hospital’s site-specific needs. It provides interactive monitoring, real-time and historical trending, distributed networking, alarm management, and comprehensive reports around the clock for every detail of the entire power system, not just for the backup components.

In addition to monitoring power quality, the SCADA system includes continuous monitoring of fuel consumption by each generator and the level of fuel in every tank. With SCADA, an operator can easily monitor and control a facility’s entire power system using full-color “point and click” interactive computer-screen displays at the system console.

For example, the operator can access and change the system’s PLC setpoints, display any of the analog or digital readouts on switchgear front panels, run a system test, or view the alarm history. A dynamic one-line diagram display uses color to indicate the status of the entire power system, including the positions of all power switching devices. Operating parameters are displayed and updated in real time; flashing lights on the switchgear annunciator panel also flash on the SCADA screen. Event logging, alarm locking, and help screens are standard.

“The SCADA is so sensitive that it detects and explains even the slightest anomaly, including those in the utility feeds,” says Byron Taylor, the hospital’s lead power plant operator. “A number of times we’ve called Tampa Electric Company (TECO) because we saw something happening, and they had no idea they even had a problem yet! The stuff the system does is phenomenal. It gives us more data than we ever need for an average day, but it’s tremendous that we have it when we do need it.”

Required system testing no longer results in disruptions

To meet state and federal regulations, backup generators must be tested every month. Thanks to the new system’s capability for closed-transition transfer, the tests no longer require power interruptions that interfere with hospital loads.

The system allows operators to carry out the tests in two different ways. They can parallel the output of all seven generators to the utility feed, or they can test one generator at a time, up to its full output, using a special 2-megawatt (MW) load bank that has an independent control panel. Testing can be initiated manually or through SCADA.

“It’s so much easier now,” says Hagen. “We’ll never again have to pay a testing firm to come out and test an engine to make sure it meets all the requirements.” Unlike most hospitals, Haley has the luxury of four utility feeds. On a normal day, it draws from two of these (primary) feeds. This means that, except for testing, Haley does not have to start its generators until it loses three or more utility feeds.

With advance notice from the utility that an outage is likely, Haley’s power plant personnel can now parallel the utility feeds with their own generators, then switch to on-site power seamlessly with a closed-transition transfer. If there is an unexpected outage (and during automatic transfer switch testing), there will be a 1 to 10 second “blip”, depending on the load. For life-safety and other critical loads, the blip is only 1-3 seconds. Blips for other loads are adjustable; most are set for 8-10 seconds.

Additional capabilities provide extra layer of confidence

The new power system provides many more capabilities than the previous system.

“We’ve had some storms come through, and it has been really nice because we do not have to worry,” says Taylor. “One time, we saw the storms coming and TECO asked us to drop off the grid. We fired up our generators, and we operated on our own power for 17 hours, while TECO concentrated on restoring power to its residential customers. That sort of thing has happened several other times for shorter perods, and there has never been a problem.” Hagen particularly appreciates the quality of the power from the backup system. “We get more blips from TECO than we do from our system,” he notes. “It is exceptionally smooth.”

Technical support and training helps team understand system capabilities

The Haley team worked hand-in-hand with Russelectric’s local field service engineer Jim Bourgoin for seven months. “During installations, Jim helped the contractors interpret the design whenever they were puzzled,” Hagen says. “Afterwards, he stuck around to help us get things up and running. It took a lot just to understand everything this system can do. I already had a background in this, but it took quite a bit of training to really get up to speed.”

Taylor recalls, “There has not been one time when I have called Jim for an alarm or with questions about the system – whether at midnight or later – that he didn’t answer the phone and help me. The service he provides is exceptional, and it has been that way since day one. To me, that’s worth just as much as the system itself.”

Taylor adds that local Russelectric sales representative Tom Crider was also deeply involved throughout the project, answering questions, facilitating the installation and training Taylor’s staff.

System designed to grow to meet hospital’s future needs

The fact that the system is designed to allow for modifications as the hospital continues to grow is a huge benefit. Concludes Taylor, “With this new power system, we have seen what is possible. It provides us with the information we need to analyze our power usage and consider new possibilities – opportunities we never would have considered before.”