Not long ago, the Regional Multispecialty Hospital in Gorzow Wielkopolskie was one of the most indebted medical facilities in Poland. One investment changed everything.
The hospital in Gorzów has a thermal power plant. – What is unique is that we produce four energies at once, namely electricity, thermal energy in steam, thermal energy in hot water and we also use this thermal energy in ice water – says Piotr Michalowski, chief engineer of the regional multidisciplinary hospital in Gorzów Wielkopolski.
They produce ice water mainly from what they have in abundance in the hospital: medical waste. Nothing is taken from the hospital, everything is burned in an environmentally safe way.
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Staff wages and energy costs eat up hospital budgets
The heart of the hospital’s unique heating and power plant is a gas engine that produces electricity for the entire hospital, and because it heats, it also heats the hospital. As a result, energy costs have been reduced by 98 percent. The multi-million dollar investment was paid off in less than a year. – We pay for the heat with the gas our engine uses, and the electricity is free – explains Piotr Michalowski.
Free electricity. That sounds like a good thing for a large hospital that, before it collapsed financially, was one of the most indebted medical facilities in Poland. Most hospitals in Poland face the persistent problem of high energy costs.
Staff wages plus energy costs actually consume the entire hospital budget. – This is exactly what is happening, that is why hospitals suffer from debts and deficits, that is why they are financially inefficient, and above all because the evaluation of services is not keeping up with the costs – commented the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company District Hospital Aleksandro Kujawski.
He was a Polish pioneer in the field of renewable energy sources. After 22 years, we visited Mr. Leonard againMarek Nowicki/Fakti TVN
Hospitals can benefit from renewable energy
So there is no choice: in the coming years, hospitals will have to switch to renewable energy sources.
– When renewable energy sources, of which there are more and more in the grid, produce a lot, that is, when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining, electricity will be very cheap and this is the moment when hospitals have to buy electricity. First, they have to charge electric batteries, but also thermal batteries, says Kamil Kwiatkowski, physicist and expert in research projects on renewable energy sources.
Soon, hospital energy storage facilities will also be built alongside hospital warehouses with medical equipment. This way, perhaps we will see cheaper electricity from nuclear power plants.
– Atom will be here in 10-12 years. Then we have to pay back the loan for this atom, which means that energy in Poland will remain at the same level as it was for at least 15 years, so this is the future for 15 years when it comes to the gas engine – says Piotr Michalowski.
Provided that the natural gas used now will be converted into biogas that will be refined into methane within a few years in Gurzuf, and not only there.
Main image source: TVN24
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