Ascension St. Vincent Evansville

Ascension St. Vincent Evansville, a level II trauma center, provides acute care services to the residents in Vanderburgh county and surrounding communities. Originally constructed in the early 1960’s, this 800,000 sf hospital required a new emergency power distribution system meeting the latest code requirements for life safety, critical care and equipment branches. After completing a master plan, construction began on a 12-phase emergency power upgrade. Keeping the hospital in operation during this upgrade was a critical part of the system design.

To make room for the new emergency power equipment, a building addition was constructed on top of the existing boiler plant. Equipment that was added included two 2 MW generators and two 15,000 gallon underground fuel storage tanks. In total, six new satellite emergency distribution equipment rooms were created as well as a new fuel polishing system for the generators. Additionally, the project required reworking the ductwork, mechanical systems, and ceilings throughout the facility to make space available for the new equipment and required feeder conduits. Over 250 small area power outages were completed in order to move the existing load over to the updated emergency power system.

Phase 12 of this emergency power upgrade is still under construction and is expected to be complete in the summer of 2020. The paralleling and distribution switchgear was sized to include three future 2 MW generators. The Ascension St. Vincent Evansville emergency distribution system is now capable of serving the current plus future anticipated hospital emergency power needs.