Valley Children’s Healthcare, a pre-eminent paediatric care provider in Central California, is on a pioneering path to become the first Net Zero paediatric hospital campus in the United States. This ambitious project, a collaboration with Mazzetti, aims to establish the largest paediatric healthcare renewable energy microgrid in the country, marking a significant stride towards sustainable healthcare.
The genesis of this groundbreaking initiative was driven by the need for creating resilience with the hospital’s ageing infrastructure, mitigating the risks associated with utility-level power outages due to fires in the region, and achieving energy independence. This was coupled with an intent to curtail operational costs. The collaboration between Valley Children’s and Mazzetti led to the development of an Energy Strategy, addressing both current and future energy requirements. The plan culminated in the selection of a microgrid system that balanced resilience with sustainability, financial viability, and scalability
Commitment to reliable services
Ratan Milevoj, Vice-President of Innovation at Valley Children’s Hospital, said: “This Energy Strategy is grounded in our commitment to providing uninterrupted and reliable healthcare services to our paediatric patients. Valley Children’s serves some of the most vulnerable children and young adults, and we see first-hand the devastating impact that extreme weather events such as wildfires, drought, and bad air quality, have had across the region. By bolstering our energy resiliency, we can ensure that critical medical operations remain functional even during adverse events such as power outages, contributing to the overall wellbeing of the children in our care. This effort extends beyond our immediate patient care, and aligns with our mission to create a healthier environment for the communities we serve.”
Dedicated sub-station
The hospital primarily relies on power from a dedicated sub-station, installed around 1994. However, this sub-station is half way through its useful life, and represents a single point of failure. In emergency situations, the hospital turns to diesel generators for back-up power. The unique vulnerabilities of the hospital site to energy disruptions necessitated an energy solution that was not only reliable and cost-effective, but also environmentally responsible. The renewable energy microgrid emerged as the ideal solution, aligning with these objectives. This project really began as an attempt to improve the energy resilience of this site. It’s a fastgrowing community where the energy demands are rising rapidly. The local utility is struggling to keep up. There are also some unique circumstances on this particular site that make you even more vulnerable in a way to energy disruptions. So, the project really started as a way to figure out how we can ensure reliable energy to the site – and, if possible – how can we do it in a way that reduces costs? As we worked on the project and examined different alternatives, this notion that we could do it with a renewable energy microgrid emerged as the preferable solution for a range of reasons.
A renewable energy microgrid represents a decentralised electricity system connected to the main power grid, but capable of operating independently in ‘island mode’ when necessary. Valley Children’s microgrid is a sophisticated integration of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, fuel cells, and energy storage, amounting to a $30.5 m investment. This set-up is projected to meet 80% of the hospital’s peak electrical use needs, while reducing emissions by 50.5% from the baseline.
The project received a substantial boost with the enactment of the US Government’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This legislation enabled Valley Children’s to recover nearly half of its initial investment through investment tax credits. By complying with the Act’s requirements on domestic content and global warming potential, Valley Children’s project set a new benchmark in the non-profit healthcare sector, spurring infrastructural improvements that prioritise resilience and operational efficiency
Environmental commitment and leadership
Valley Children’s Healthcare and Mazzetti were early signatories of the US White House/Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Sector Climate Pledge. This commitment involves reducing emissions by 50% by 2030, and achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050. Achieving these goals will effectively eliminate the hospital’s carbon footprint and its adverse impact on air quality
The success of Valley Children’s energy resilience programme is poised to serve as a model for other Health and Human Services Climate Pledge signatories, positioning the hospital as a leader in sustainable healthcare. Mazzetti’s strategic partnership and technical advisory roles are integral to achieving the vision of a greener, more resilient healthcare future.
Enhancing the project’s scope, Valley Children’s Healthcare secured a significant grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE), and additional funding from the California Energy Commission (CEC). This financial support is earmarked for longduration energy storage demonstrations, enhancing clean energy storage capabilities, and ensuring continuous patient care during power disruptions
With Mazzetti providing strategic counsel and engineering expertise, and Faraday Microgrids handling construction, the project is set to make a substantial impact on the local community and the healthcare industry at large. Upon completion, Valley Children’s will operate the largest renewable energy microgrid in a US hospital, backed by $30 m from the DOE and $25 m from the CEC
Ensuring children’s welfare
Todd Suntrapak, President and CEO of Valley Children’s, underlined the project’s core objective: the welfare of children. He stressed the hospital’s duty to provide uninterrupted energy in all conditions, and to enhance the communities where children live. He said: “At the heart of Valley Children’s sustainability plan is our kids. Valley Children’s must ensure that we always have a source of energy to care for them and their families under any circumstance, or through any disruption, – and we have a responsibility to improve the communities where our children live, learn, and play. The Department of Energy grant represents a transformative moment for Valley Children’s and for our communities, and places us at the forefront of creating safe, effective, and reliable power systems for hospitals here and around the world.”
Mazzetti’s role in healthcare infrastructure evolution
Mazzetti’s contributions transcend this project. It has been instrumental in advancing the National Electric Code (NFPA 70) to enable cleaner, more efficient power systems in healthcare facilities. Its efforts led to a categorical waiver by CMS, permitting the use of renewable energy microgrids as an alternative to diesel generators for emergency back-up power. The renewable energy microgrid, currently in its first phase, is expected to be operational by 2025. It aims to halve carbon emissions, providing a sustainable blueprint for healthcare facilities nationwide. Valley Children’s also aims to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050, reinforcing its environmental commitment
Valley Children’s commitment to sustainability transcends energy resilience. It encompasses a holistic approach that considers the environmental impact of its operations and its broader responsibility towards the community. This commitment is manifested in various initiatives aimed at reducing waste, conserving water – given that the hospital is in a region that constantly faces droughts, and promoting sustainable practices both within the hospital and in the community, including sourcing food from local and sustainable producers, and reducing food waste.
A partnership for the future
The collaboration between Valley Children’s and Mazzetti exemplifies the synergistic power of engineering and healthcare to address pressing challenges. This partnership is a testament to the potential for innovation and efficiency in creating responsible and sustainable solutions. It sets a new standard in healthcare and sustainability, extending beyond constructing a stateof-the-art facility to foster a sustainable future.
Valley Children’s Healthcare’s endeavour to become the US’s first Net Zero paediatric hospital campus is a beacon of innovation and a model for the healthcare industry. It represents a confluence of vision, innovation, and commitment to the health of the planet and its inhabitants. As this project progresses, it is poised to inspire and guide other healthcare institutions towards a sustainable and resilient future. For more details on Valley Children’s sustainability efforts and the project, including a rendering of the solar field, visit valleychildrens.org/sustainability.
Walt Vernon and Mazzetti
Walt Vernon is the CEO of Mazzetti, and the founder and CEO of Sextant, a not-for-profit organisation committed to developing sustainable infrastructure for health facilities in low-resourced countries around the world. He spearheads the climate consulting business for Mazzetti, helping clients with a wide range of solutions, from purchasing to data flow, to carbon accounting, to behaviour change. With degrees in Mathematics, Philosophy, Engineering, Business, and Law (including an LLM in Energy Law), he says he is ‘uniquely qualified to help healthcare organisations working on carbon reduction issues’
Mazzetti is a global engineering design and consulting firm ‘with a history of delivering forward-thinking solutions’ for healthcare, life sciences, and other highly complex sectors. From its inception with a small team of MEP engineers, the business now has over 200 staff in 11 locations in the US and India.
Ratan Milevoj and Valley Children’s Healthcare
As Vice-President of Innovation for Valley Children’s Healthcare, Ratan Milevoj is responsible for bringing best practice to the organisation. Joining Valley Children’s in 2004, she has held several leadership roles – including director of Physician Network Development, with responsibility for acquisitions, start-ups, primary care strategic plans, and operations, and director of Health Information Management, Patient Access, Payer Contracting, and Revenue Integrity. She gained her Master of Business Administration with emphasis in Finance and Marketing and Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from California State University, Fresno.
Valley Children’s Healthcare reportedly provides Central California’s ‘only highquality, comprehensive care exclusively for children’. It offers highly specialised medical and surgical services at its 358-bed standalone children’s hospital, which includes 28 NICU beds at regional hospitals. The Valley Children’s Healthcare network includes specialty care centres, paediatric primary care practices, and women’s health services. With over 670 physicians and 3,500 staff, Valley Children’s delivers care to over 1.3 million children from Kern County to the state