Veterans Affairs Hospitals Across the Country are Improving Care and Saving Money through Energy Upgrades

Con Edison Solutions (CES), a leading energy services company and one of the Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses, has completed significant energy projects at hospitals for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) over the past several years, helping the VA improve the quality of care it provides while saving VA money by making the hospitals more energy efficient. 

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the nation's largest integrated health care system and is organized into twenty-one Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs), two of which are VISN 2 and VISN 6.  

In December 2016, CES signed an energy savings performance contract (ESPC) with the VA's Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6).  VISN 6 is comprised of VA Medical Centers and associated community-based outpatient clinics spanning North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia (see map below).  The network utilizes more than 13,500 clinical and support staff members, and about 4,000 volunteers to serve greater than 340,000 veterans annually across a three-state service area.  The contract for VISN 6 includes VHA Medical Centers in Ashville, NC, Beckley, WV, Durham, NC, Fayetteville, NC, Salisbury, NC, Salem, VA, and Richmond, VA - totaling more than six million square feet.

The contract supports $7.2 million of guaranteed cost savings to the VA in the first year and more than $4.6 million annually thereafter. 

A wide range of energy technologies was specified and deployed by Con Edison Solutions, tailored to the energy utilization and operating characteristics of each campus.  As the selected energy services company, Con Edison Solutions was responsible for all phases of the VISN 6 ESPC project, including the development and engineering phase, coordinating the project's financing, managing implementation, and the post-construction services associated with the ESPC. 

In July 2017, CES announced the completion of a critical phase of a cooling tower replacement and central energy plant upgrade project on behalf of the VISN 2 Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center (NVAMC).  NVAMC is a 277-acre medical campus consisting of a main hospital building and numerous support buildings, providing a full complement of healthcare services to the area's veteran community.  CES was contracted by National Grid to lead a project that has significantly reduced both costs and energy usage for NVAMC.

While incurring no upfront construction expenses, NVAMC expects to reduce its electricity consumption costs by approximately $90,000 per year while reaping $1 million per year in savings by eliminating rental costs associated with the use of temporary cooling equipment. 

"Veterans Health Administration hospitals around the country are realizing the cost-saving benefits of investing in energy upgrades and have been highly motivated partners to work with on these initiatives, which first and foremost prioritize veteran care," said Michael Gibson, Vice President of Energy Services for Con Edison Solutions.  "By undertaking energy savings performance contracts, these hospitals can save money on energy and improve the facilities to support their core mission of providing effective, quality care for veterans.  Veterans are an important part of the CES team and six veterans, who are among many in our organization, proudly worked on these VA projects."

A video showcasing CES' VISN 6 work can be found here.

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