The Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center (NVAMC) recently completed the replacement of its cooling towers and related chiller plant systems under a federal contract task order awarded in July to National Grid. ConEdison Solutions, a national energy services company, served as prime contractor to National Grid in completion of the project.

The 277-acre medical campus consists of a main hospital building and numerous support buildings, providing a full complement of healthcare services to the area’s veteran community.While incurring no upfront construction expenses, the medical complex 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 equipment.

“The Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center is committed to serving the healthcare needs of Long Island’s veterans in a way that delivers the highest quality of care while remaining mindful of the need to invest our resources in an efficient way,” said Philip Moschitta, Director. “We are grateful to National Grid and ConEdison Solutions for acting swiftly to deliver a long-term, money-saving solution to our center’s cooling and infrastructure needs.”

“National Grid congratulates the staff at the Northport VA Medical Center. This is the latest in a series of energy savings and environmentally superior projects at the facility. National Grid is proud to have contributed to making this one of the most energy efficient major medical facilities we serve and to have helped substantially lower its carbon footprint and operating costs,” said Kiel Costella, Manager, Community and Customer Management for National Grid.

“As an experienced energy services company with a long history of supporting federal agencies in energy upgrades, our company was proud to have the opportunity to extend our support to the region’s veterans,” said Mark Noyes, President and CEO of ConEdison Solutions. “America’s veterans deserve the best-possible facilities for medical care, and it was gratifying that our company was able to devise a solution to the VA’s cooling and chiller challenges that will both boost the patient environment and the quality of care, while also saving money.”

Upon completion and formal acceptance of the project by NVAMC management, the installed equipment becomes property of the U.S. government. At that point, the federal government begins paying for the construction and all other construction-related costs using the annual savings generated by the equipment installations and upgrades. The savings take into account the money saved by reduction of energy costs, reduction of operations and maintenance costs and the elimination of costs, such as rental fees.

Under the terms of the Federal Utility Energy Services Contract, ConEdison Solutions’ duties included design, construction, commissioning and measurement and verification of energy savings associated with replacement of the hospital’s cooling towers. In addition to replacing the rooftop towers, ConEdison Solutions also replaced existing vertical risers, four existing condenser water pumps, four existing chilled water pumps, a condenser and chilled water piping connecting the equipment cited above, and a chiller plant controls system.

ConEdison Solutions installed equipment with a longer service lifespan that, when paired with an energy-efficient controls system and state of the art engineering design, will improve system performance and overall patient and staff comfort.