Propane generators stand ready at hospitals

Critical facilities like hospitals do not take their power sources for granted.

For Cleveland Clinic Akron General Lodi Hospital, and for many medical facilities, in fact, a reliable and steady source of power is required by law.

That’s why the hospital, located in the small community of Lodi, Ohio, installed two 1,000-gallon propane tanks. If the hospital’s natural gas supply goes offline for any reason, the propane on-site generates power to maintain the hospital’s critical operations.

The standby power generation system, designed and installed by Superior Energy Systems (SES), converts liquid propane into vapor and mixes it with air to produce synthetic natural gas, which runs through the hospital’s existing natural gas infrastructure.

With a capacity of 14 million Btus, the system can power the entire hospital, including its kitchen and boilers for hot water and steam sterilization.

SES sized the power generation equipment and propane storage capacity based on the maximum Btu load and the amount of time the facility expected to run on backup power, explains Derek Rimko, vice president of operations, and Greg Whitesell, director of engineering, at the Columbia Station, Ohio, company.

The hospital has an agreement with a local propane supplier to fill the tanks as needed and in emergency situations.

Scott Cox, facilities supervisor at the hospital, tests the system for at least 24 hours twice a year to ensure it remains in working condition. He typically fills the tanks in the summer when propane prices are lower and makes sure they are topped off before the winter, when the need for heating capacity is more acute.

Cox says the system hasn’t been used aside from regular testing in the two years he’s worked for the hospital, but it stands ready to support the hospital at full capacity if the need arises.

Service and security

In some parts of the country, businesses and homeowners are realizing that they can’t take their power sources for granted, either.

Green’s Blue Flame Gas, a full-service propane retailer based in Houston, has witnessed that shift and is providing solutions to customers.

The company offers installation and service of propane systems for residential and commercial power generation. Its propane service supports critical infrastructure like emergency rooms and radio towers, as well as businesses and homeowners seeking continuity and safety during severe weather events. Applications range from 20-kilowatt standby generators that power homes during power outages to large 100-kilowatt generators used for commercial operations.

When the company takes on a customer like a medical facility that uses propane as a backup to natural gas, it doesn’t expect to deliver much propane beyond the initial installation. Instead, the company agrees to provide a critical service when the facility needs it.

“It’s a service to this customer,” explains Brian Green, vice president. “We’ll probably never make a delivery to it because the chance of a natural gas issue is going to be low – until one day there’s a storm, and all of these natural gas generators kick on and there’s a pressure problem.”

Energy distributors prioritize critical facilities like hospitals and prisons, so those facilities are less likely to lose power during an emergency.

But a storm that threatens energy infrastructure wouldn’t be a first in Texas.

In February 2021, extreme cold and ice disrupted natural gas and electricity production throughout much of Texas, leaving 4.5 million homes and businesses without power at the peak of the crisis

derecho in May and Hurricane Beryl in July has only added to concerns about weather-related power outages in Houston.

Green says power at his own home has gone out four times this year. Two of those times, the power was out for three days.

He says demand for propane-powered generators spiked in his service area after the winter storm and has since accelerated due to “constant power outages.”

A new mindset

Green says residential generators are bringing in the most business.

Standby generators are popular, and for those seeking a lower-cost alternative to standby generators, a 12,000-watt portable generator can power a small house or the first floor of a larger house.

Adjusting to customers that do not require regular deliveries requires a shift in mindset.

“When you get into power generation, you have to consider: This is a service side of the business instead of a delivery side of the business,” says Green. “Just because it’s different, doesn’t mean it’s not as profitable. You just have to look at it through a different lens.”

For Green’s Blue Flame Gas, that means optimizing the installation, building customer relationships and filling tanks well before an emergency strikes.

The first step is to set the right tank and price the installation properly.

“When you set the tank,” says Green, “you’re going to deliver however much [propane] can fill the capacity: 400 gallons, 800 gallons for a 500- and 1,000-gallon tank.”

To choose the right tank size, the company determines the application’s maximum Btu load and the consumption rate. It works with the customer to plan the number of days the standby system can run without a propane delivery and estimates how quickly service technicians can reach the customer in an emergency.

“If it’s just 24 hours, it doesn’t need to be a huge tank. You could get away with a 250-gallon tank or maybe even smaller,” says Green. “But in cases where someone plans to be out of gas throughout a week, maybe they’re in a flood-prone area and you can’t get to them, that’s when way more storage comes into play to meet the Btu, and it’s really unique for every customer.”

The company also recommends tank monitors on every installation. In the absence of regular deliveries, the monitors establish relationships with customers, encouraging them to return to Green’s Blue Flame Gas whenever it’s time for a fill.

When customers resist the idea of tank monitors, the team points out the mutual benefit of knowing tank levels at any moment. Generators are designed to turn on periodically. Each time a generator powers up, it uses a small amount of gas. That drawdown can add up over time.

“If you don’t have that monitor on there, and it’s been cycling once a week for a year, maybe a couple of years, that tank level is going to be pretty low,” says Green. “Then an emergency happens, and you’re out of power for several days, but you’re not going to have a full tank to run on.”

With tank monitors, the company can schedule a delivery at the right time and ensure the generator will run when the customer needs it most.

Marketing and email communication can strengthen those customer relationships between deliveries.

“Even if the customer doesn’t decide to set up the monitor,” says Green, “if you’re sending them those materials, when the time comes, at least you’re at the top of their mind.”

Diversification

Green’s Blue Flame Gas partners with local generator suppliers to gain customers in the standby power space.

“They know we do quality work and are fair on price, so they refer us to their customers that are getting generators in areas where there’s no natural gas service,” says Green.

The Houston area is dominated by natural gas, and while certain pockets remain propane-only, new opportunities for standard residential propane installations are limited, explains Green. Standby power enables the company to gain business in other ways.

“We’re not giving up an all-gas home customer to install [standby systems],” explains Green. “It’s filling in the gaps when we don’t have those [all-gas home] installations.”

On the commercial and industrial side of the business, Rimko and Whitesell of SES find that natural gas supply doesn’t always limit opportunities for propane marketers. SES serves customers who want propane standby systems to avoid the cost of installing a natural gas line or to negotiate better rates with natural gas suppliers.

The propane marketer can facilitate installation of the propane system and lock in a contract to supply gas for several years.

Learn more

Installations involving generators have different code requirements than typical home propane systems, so companies must train technicians on those differences. Brian Green, vice president of Green’s Blue Flame Gas in Houston, works with the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state agency that does inspections and provides guidance, to make sure his team is up to speed. To learn more about safety considerations when installing backup generators, read Randy Warner’s recent column “Use backup generators safely.”