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    Penn State Hershey CHP project named Greater Good winner at Microgrid Knowledge awards

    June 1, 2022
    The Penn State Hershey Medical Center was honored for its 22-MW microgrid and sustainability efforts which includes a combined heat and power plant, energy storage and hardened, underground electric distribution system
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    One of the subjects of EnergyTech’s first-ever webinar on Mission Critical Energy Resiliency is now a winner of the Microgrid Knowledge Greater Good Award named Wednesday during the Microgrid 2022 Conference in Philadelphia.

    Microgrid Knowledge 2023 is May 16-17 in Anaheim: Read about it and register here

    Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, part of the Penn State Health System, was honored for its 22-MW microgrid and sustainability efforts which includes a combined heat and power plant, energy storage and hardened, underground electric distribution system.   

    Partners on the project included Pennsylvania State University, Cogen Power Technologies, CHA Generation and Energy Management and RMF Engineering. Penn State Hershey has reported that the microgrid and system updates have improved overall fuel use efficiency from 51 to 75 percent and will save the program $3.8 million annually while reducing the carbon emissions by 22 kilotons annually, according to the report.

    The medical center project is "a comprehensive, step-by-step approach that will enable the medical center to continue learning about its energy use and production and continue making improvements," said Housley Carr, one of the award's judges, told Microgrid Knowledge.

    Microgrid 2022, hosted by Microgrid Knowledge, has attracted nearly 600 attendees from through the industry. EnergyTech and Microgrid Knowledge both are owned by Endeavor Business Media.

    The Penn State energy microgrid and efficiency efforts were brought front and center in an EnergyTech webinar, “Making Sustainability, Efficiency and Resiliency the Keystones of your Mission Critical Energy Goals.” The webinar featured Kevinn Kanoff, campus energy engineer for Penn State Hershey Medical Center, as well as energy experts from Chatham University and Green Business Certification Inc.

    Other winners of the Microgrid 2022 Greater Good Awards included the Kudagaon Village Microgrid in India, the Santa Rosa Junior College Microgrid in California and theSato Medical Health Centre Microgrid in India.

    The Microgrid 2022 Conference continues Thursday in Philadelphia at the Marriott Downtown.

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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