Christiana Care Health System to Purchase Wind Power
Posted on: Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 16:33 CDT
WILMINGTON, Del., April 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Starting in January 2010, as much as 40 percent of Christiana Care Health System's electricity will come from wind turbines in eastern Pennsylvania.
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Christiana Care signed a nine-year agreement with Iberdrola Renewables of Radnor, PA to purchase 40 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually from Iberdrola Renewables' Locust Ridge II wind power project, now under construction in Schuylkill and Columbia, PA counties. That represents enough electricity to power about 3,700 homes, or about 15 percent of the output of the 51 wind turbine, 102-megawatt project.
According to Bob Mulrooney, Christiana Care vice president for facilities and services, the Locust Ridge II wind power project will provide between 30 percent and 40 percent of Christiana Care's annual electricity needs.
In addition to the environmental benefits of wind power, Christiana Care also has the certainty of knowing the price it pays for electricity will remain unchanged during the nine-year contract. The wind, the fuel for a wind power project, is inexhaustible and free. Once a project is built, the cost of the power is fixed and not affected by fossil fuel price volatility, assuring Christiana Care a steady supply of wind generated electricity. "You're harnessing the power of wind to produce electricity," says Mulrooney. "From an environmental standpoint, it's a clean and renewable source. As a health care provider, it's a natural fit for us."
Christiana Care Health System is one of the Mid-Atlantic region's largest health care providers, serving Delaware and neighboring areas in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. A not-for-profit teaching hospital, Christiana Care is recognized as a regional center for excellence in cardiology, cancer and women's health services, as well as for its Level-I trauma care and Level-3 neonatal intensive care (both highest capability). Christiana Hospital is the only Level I trauma center between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Christiana Care includes two hospitals with 1,100 patient beds, a home health care service, preventive medicine, rehabilitation services, a network of primary care physicians and an extensive range of outpatient services. With more than 10,000 employees, Christiana Care is the largest private employer in Delaware and the 10th largest employer in the Philadelphia region. www.Christianacare.org.
SOURCE Christiana Care Health System
Source: PR Newswire
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