Queen's Medical Center Electrical Upgrades/Honolulu, Hawaii

Architect
AES Design Group/Aiea, Hawaii

Owner
Queen’s Medical Center/Honolulu, Hawaii

Size/Cost
6,800-sf/$30 million

TLC Services
Electrical/Commissioning


TLC Peer Review Services
MEP/FP/Commissioning

TLC’s initial role at Queen’s Medical Center was engineering peer review for a major electrical upgrade to the entire campus. Thanks largely to TLC’s extensive experience in the design of hospital emergency power systems, our role evolved into a collaboration with the local design consultant on a complete revision of the hospital’s utility and emergency power systems. As the only trauma center in the Pacific Basin, it’s crucial that QMC be able to provide full-service medical care in the event of a disaster or extended power outage. Prior to the upgrade, power was provided by the local utility via two underground service feeders to a single service entrance switchboard. Each feeder had the capacity of 400 amps at 11.5 kV. One feeder was dedicated to QMC and the second was shared with nearby non-medical facilities. Typical hospital operations required only one feeder; however, peak demand increased as the medical center grew until it reached 74% of feeder capacity, thus no longer having a fully redundant backup from the utility. Emergency power capacity was limited to serve critical, life safety, and selected equipment loads throughout. The objective of the upgrade was to:
• Increase utility capacity to 800 amps and maintain an active backup feeder. Solution included two primary 11.5-kV feeders dedicated to the hospital and one 11.5- kV back-up feeder that are automatically switched via an integrated line-up of service entrance, auto-transfer switchgear.
• Increase generation capacity to provide 100% generator power to the entire medical campus. Solution included the installation of four 2,250-kW prime-rated diesel generators sets in a paralleled configuration.
• Provide the ability to parallel the generators to the utility grid, aka closed transition, to eliminate brief power outages caused by monthly emergency generator testing and to allow the facility to enroll in the local utilities peak curtailment program.
• Fully integrate new building structure into already congested, urban environment without losing possible revenue producing real-estate. The solution was to vertically stack the switchgear and generators into a 19'x 90' four-story structure located in a 20' wide alleyway between the central energy plant and hospital parking garage.

 
 
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