New Combined Heat & Power Plant to Eliminate Oil Burner Emissions and Reduce Energy Costs for St. Barnabas Health Care Network in the Central Bronx

EDISON, N.J., Feb. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Edison, New Jersey based energy project developer and investor Green Campus Partners, LLC ("GCP") has entered into a Development Agreement with St. Barnabas Hospital and St. Barnabas Rehabilitation and Continuing Care Center. Under the innovative agreement, GCP will develop, construct, own and operate a highly efficient 1.2MW Combined Heat and Power ("CHP") plant to serve the thermal energy and electricity needs of the St. Barnabas campus in the Bronx, NY.

St. Barnabas Hospital is a 461-bed, not-for-profit acute care community teaching hospital located in the heart of the central Bronx with 461 beds, more than 1,200 births, 21,000 admitted patients, and 500,000 networked outpatient visits each year. St. Barnabas Rehabilitation and Continuing Care Center is a 199-bed (fully occupied) facility that includes geriatric, rehabilitation, ventilator, and AIDS beds. Both the Hospital and Continuing Care Center are valuable healthcare resources serving the Bronx community. 

The new CHP Plant will replace the Hospital's existing oil-fired boiler plant, which is far past its useful life and badly in need of replacement.  The new plant will provide all of the heating and cooling needs of the Hospital and Continuing Care Center, as well a significant portion of their electricity needs.

Green Campus Partners will fund the development and construction of the CHP plant and enter into 20-year Utility Services Agreements with the Hospital and Continuing Care Center. Under this agreement, the Hospital and Continuing Care Center will purchase lower cost electricity and steam from the plant to serve their heating, cooling, and electrical needs, while reducing their current utility costs by approximately $2 million per year.

This important energy and infrastructure project requires no capital investment by St. Barnabas, enabling the Hospital and Continuing Care Center to preserve their capital for clinical investments to better serve the needs of the Central Bronx community. Instead, GCP will invest in, fully finance and own the plant.The Hospital will achieve cost and reliability benefits through the combination of predictable unit prices of energy and plant performance guaranteed by GCP and its contractors.

The clean-burning, natural gas-fired cogeneration facility will reduce carbon emissions that would otherwise continue unabated with the Hospital's existing boiler burning number 6 fuel oil, helping to achieve key objectives of the City's Clean Heat Initiative and PlaNYC, the City's long-term plan for a greener New York. In addition, construction of the project will create jobs in the area and the long-term operations and maintenance agreement will keep jobs in the Bronx, long after operations have commenced.

"St. Barnabas Hospital's partnership with Green Campus Partners to replace its existing #6 oil fired boilers with a combined heat and power system is a win for public health, clean energy, and the hospital's bottom line," said David Bragdon, Director of the New York City Mayor's Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability.  "The project advances our PlaNYC goal of achieving the cleanest air quality of any major U.S. City.  It also provides compelling evidence of the potential for innovative financing methods to unlock investment in energy efficiency and clean energy projects."

The announcement of this project has also been well received by environmental advocates such as the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). "Today's announcement shows that switching to cleaner heating fuel is great for our lungs and for our wallets," said Mary Barber, EDF's campaign director in New York focused on clean air and energy issues. "We applaud St. Barnabas and Green Campus Partners for this innovative step that will deliver healthier air to the Bronx, while improving the operations and financial health of the institution."

According to Len Walsh, the Hospital's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, "Our recent partnership with Green Campus Partners for the building of a Combined Heat and Power Plant shows St. Barnabas Hospital's commitment, as an essential provider of health services in the Bronx, to improve the air quality and reduce the carbon footprint in our community.  For nearly 50 years, we have operated oil-fired boilers that use number 6 fuel oil.  While these boilers continue to operate, they do so with incredible inefficiency, adversely affect the air quality of the neighborhood, and create a steep financial burden as a result of constant repairs and escalating prices.  This new plant, which will eliminate the need for using number 6 fuel oil, will accommodate all the heating and cooling needs of the campus and provide approximately $2 million in annual savings."

Jim Thoma, GCP's Managing Director and President added, "We are delighted to partner with St. Barnabas to make this important investment for the benefit of the Hospital, Continuing Care Center and the overall Central Bronx Community. We look forward to expeditiously completing our development, construction and commissioning of the CHP plant so we can deliver important environmental, operational and cost reduction benefits as soon as possible." The plant is targeted for completion and commissioning during the third quarter of 2013.

About Green Campus Partners LLC

GCP's singular focus is helping its clients convert their green ideas into green solutions. GCP is a catalyst within the energy efficiency and distributed generation industry, serving as a valued conduit for productive relationships between contractors, energy users and investors. GCP's business model is built around development, financing and implementation of projects in two key segments of the multi-billion dollar Energy Services industry: energy efficiency and distributed generation, with a specific focus on combined heat and power plants and central utility plants serving clients with energy intensive campus configurations.

GCP's co-development model entails close collaboration with world-class engineering, procurement and construction contractors to design and build projects financed and, in many cases, owned by GCP. Business development is focused on financially strong end-use clients with energy intensive facilities, including governmental entities, institutional clients in the healthcare and higher education sectors and select commercial and industrial clients.

GCP is a portfolio company of Hudson Clean Energy Partners, a leading private equity firm dedicated to investing exclusively in the green energy space including distributed generation and energy efficiency.

About St. Barnabas Health Care Network

The St. Barnabas Health Care Network is a community-based, patient-friendly health care system serving individuals and families in the Bronx community and surrounding neighborhoods. Our expanding health care network provides high-quality inpatient, outpatient and emergency medical, mental health and dental services throughout the borough. As an urban hospital, we take special pride in our location, a garden-like setting on a ten acre-campus—a jewel in the heart of the Bronx. The campus is also home to the St. Barnabas Rehabilitation & Continuing Care Center, a seven-story ambulatory care facility and a 40-station dialysis treatment center.

St. Barnabas Hospital

The flagship in our health care system, St. Barnabas Hospital is a 461-bed, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, acute care community hospital and Level I Trauma Center authorized to treat the most critically ill and severely injured patients. As a State-designated Stroke Center and State-designated AIDS Center we provide access to much-needed services in our community. St. Barnabas Hospital recently completed major renovation and construction projects, adding a spacious hospital lobby, full-service ambulatory surgery center, state-of-the-art operating suite, inpatient short-term hospice unit and attractive gateways to the campus. Through our Cultural and Language Access Assistance program, we strive to meet the needs of our diverse patient population. We provide our patients with access to interpreting services in 130 languages as well as video monitor sign language interpreting. U.S. News & World Report has ranked our hospital among the top fifty in the country in the treatment of diabetes and endocrine disorders. Another notable accomplishment is the low rate of caesarean sections performed in our maternity pavilion compared with other hospitals in the state.

St. Barnabas Rehabilitation & Continuing Care Center

The St. Barnabas Rehabilitation & Continuing Care Center is located on the leafy grounds of the St. Barnabas campus and shares clinical resources with the hospital. The two facilities are connected by a pedestrian bridge, which allows nursing home residents convenient and easy access to hospital care if needed.

This modern facility has a capacity for nearly two hundred residents and is New York State-certified to care for ventilator-dependent patients. The St. Barnabas Rehabilitation & Continuing Care Center offers a popular medically-based Adult Day Health Care program, which provides health care as well as daily activities and outings to local theaters, restaurants and other community establishments for community members enrolled in the program. There is also a short-term rehabilitation program within the St. Barnabas Rehabilitation & Continuing Care Center.

For additional information, please contact:
Contact: Jim Thoma, Managing Director
Office: 732-917-2303
Mobile: 732-675-3878
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.greencampuspartners.com

SOURCE Green Campus Partners LLC