SPIE : Energy transition at the Berlin’s Charité

New facility makes the hospital fit for the future

Berlin, July 13th, 2017 - Heating, cooling, sterilisation, illumination and operating surgical equipment for the benefit of the patients - at the Charité, one of the biggest university hospitals in Europe, this requires a lot of energy. For this reason, a major conversion has been implemented at one of the four locations, the Virchow-Klinikum campus in Wedding. Following a planning and realization period of around two years, a new power station has now been handed over to the hospital management by SPIE GmbH. The multi-technical service provider will keep the facility intact over a term of 15 years. Energy will be used more efficiently in future, reducing the impact on the environment of the hospital.

The annual output of the new facility is substantial: It supplies around 55,000 megawatt hours - roughly the amount of energy consumed by a medium-sized town of around 13,000 households in a year. Electricity, heat and cooling are now generated in a new building on the hospital premises. The system also supplies steam that can be used to sterilise surgical instruments and rooms.

Overall, the Charité's environmental impact will improve significantly. Its CO emissions will decrease by around 8,800 tonnes per year. This is equivalent to the CO emissions of roughly 6,200 cars driving 10,000 kilometres per year.

SPIE Energie Solutions planned and constructed the new power station. In doing so, it was necessary to comply with the public authorities' strict requirements for city centres while also fully guaranteeing the hospital's steam supply at all times. It was a particular challenge to construct everything amid ongoing hospital operations without restricting day-to-day work. SPIE will continue to manage the facility and continuously adapt its operations to the respective requirements. Meanwhile, an energy controlling system will document the required efficiency criteria. In this EU-wide tender, the Charité had stipulated that the savings should not only cover the costs for the construction and operation of the facility in the long term, but should also bring an economic benefit.

'Our team impressed them here with its concept and experience,' says Thomas Ullrich, Senior Sales Manager at SPIE GmbH.