The Power of Critical Planning
Since opening in 1824, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has grown from a small private college for training physicians to a state university with a medical center and six colleges that educate a wide range of health professionals. With 709 licensed beds, the Medical University Hospital receives more than 32,000 inpatient admissions and 730,000 outpatients each year.
Introduced by Caterpillar in 2008, the C175-16 has been in use across the globe in a variety of applications and has proven to be highly reliable and durable.
The Medical University Hospitals comprise 709 licensed beds and receive over 32,000 inpatient admissions and 730,000 outpatients annually.
Should the main utility feed go down, the Sabin Street Energy Plant is designed to provide full power to the Children’s and University hospitals and the North Tower.
A vertical building expansion put the lowest levels of the facility above the storm surge levels and relocated infrastructure equipment and systems to these elevated areas to reduce the risk of losing power due to flooding.
However, because the hospital complex is located at the coastal edge of Charleston, MUSC officials worried that a hurricane or tropical storm could put the facilities at risk of total power failure. A team of architects and engineers determined that in the event of a 100-year storm, the entire first floor would be underwater. The university would also lose the major infrastructure equipment and systems that keep the facility running.
The Medical University Hospital Authority (MUHA) decided to mitigate potential failures from storm flooding with a vertical building expansion, which elevated the lowest levels of the facility above storm surge levels. This expansion presented an opportunity to update MUSC’s electrical systems.
Completed in December 2013, the Sabin Street Energy Plant houses air conditioning systems, switchgear, and four Cat® C175-16 generator sets, with each system on a separate floor of the five-story building. In a utility outage, the plant supplies full power to the University and Children’s hospitals, as well as the North Tower.
MUSC turned to local Cat dealer Blanchard Power Systems to provide the four Cat generator sets. Although the campus already had multiple Cat generators, the primary reason for choosing Caterpillar is the world-class service. When an issue arises, MUSC counts on Blanchard Power Systems for a quick response.
