Our Trust’s high voltage electrical infrastructure at the Lister has been upgraded to ensure the hospital has its own dedicated link to the national grid, as well as meet future power needs. These vital works, costing £5million, started in January 2010 and were completed in January 2012.
Why the investment was required
The Lister’s previous electrical infrastructure was installed when the hospital was built in 1972 – that’s 40 years ago.
With advances in technology and diagnostic medical equipment being used today, the hospital’s current power need exceeded our contracted limit. This was even before we began expanding the site as part of the Trust’s Our Changing Hospital programme, which is beginning to see a significant increase in the demand for electricity at the Lister as more inpatient and emergency services move to the hospital over the next few years.
What the project included
There were three main parts to the project:
1) In September 2010 EDF installed a high voltage supply from a substation in Stevenage, which now provides the Lister with a direct and dedicated source of electricity. This five megawatt supply provides us with enough, and some spare, electricity capacity to support the expansion.
2) Southern Electrical Contracting have installed a new high voltage ring main, which included additional transformers and 3 new substations. The electrical fit-out works and installation of equipment in all 3 new substations is now complete.
3) The final element of the electrical upgrade has increased the emergency generator capacity at the Lister. Previously, the Lister’s existing generators only provided 40% cover of the hospital’s overall electricity requirements during power outages (critical areas of the hospital all run on 100% generator cover). Due to the nature of modern health care and the increase in computer usage, this level of back up has a significant effect on operations of the hospital during power outages. The project’s completion has seen the whole of the Lister backed up 100% by emergency generators, and will minimise disruption to the hospital during a power outage.
