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

For the Cleveland Clinic Akron General Lodi Hospital and many other medical facilities, a reliable and stable power supply is even required by law.

That’s why the hospital in the small community of Lodi, Ohio, installed two 1,000-gallon propane tanks. If the hospital’s natural gas supply were to fail for any reason, the propane would generate electricity on-site to keep the hospital running critically.

Developed and installed by Superior Energy Systems (SES), the emergency generator converts liquid propane into steam and mixes it with air to produce synthetic natural gas, which is piped through the hospital’s existing natural gas infrastructure.

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

SES sized the power generation facilities and propane storage capacity based on the maximum Btu load and the anticipated length of time the facility will operate on backup power, explain Derek Rimko, vice president of operations, and Greg Whitesell, chief engineering officer for the Columbia Station, Ohio-based company.

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

Scott Cox, the hospital’s operations manager, tests the system twice a year for at least 24 hours to make sure it stays in good working order. He typically fills the tanks in the summer when propane prices are lower and makes sure they’re topped off before winter when the need for heating capacity is greater.

Cox says the system has not been used in the two years he has worked for the hospital, other than for regular testing, but it is ready to support the hospital at full capacity if needed.

Service and security

In some parts of the country, businesses and homeowners are realizing that they, too, cannot take their electricity sources for granted.

Green’s Blue Flame Gas, a full-service propane dealer based in Houston, has witnessed this change and is offering solutions to its customers.

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

When the company takes on a customer such as a medical facility that uses propane as a replacement for natural gas, it does not expect to have to supply much propane beyond the initial installation. Instead, the company commits to providing an essential service when the facility needs it.

“It’s a service to that customer,” explains Brian Green, vice president. “We’ll probably never supply them because the likelihood of a natural gas problem is slim – until one day there’s a storm and all those natural gas generators come on and there’s a pressure problem.”

Energy providers prioritize critical facilities such as hospitals and prisons to reduce the likelihood of a power outage in the event of an emergency.

But a storm threatening the energy infrastructure would not be an isolated incident in Texas.

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

A derecho in May and Hurricane Beryl in July only increased concerns about weather-related power outages in Houston.

Green says the power has gone out at his home four times this year, and twice the outage lasted three days.

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

A new way of thinking

Green says residential generators bring in the most business.

Backup generators are becoming very popular. For those looking for a more cost-effective alternative to backup generators, a portable 12,000-watt generator can power a small home or the first floor of a larger home.

Adapting to customers who do not require regular deliveries requires a rethink.

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

For Green’s Blue Flame Gas, that means optimizing the plant, building customer relationships and filling tanks long before an emergency occurs.

The first step is to select the correct tank and calculate the installation correctly.

“When you set up the tank,” says Green, “dispense as much (propane) as the capacity allows: 400 gallons, 800 gallons for a 500-gallon and a 1,000-gallon tank.”

To choose the right tank size, the company determines the maximum Btu load and consumption of the application. Together with the customer, it plans how many days the standby system can run without a propane delivery and estimates how quickly service technicians can arrive at the customer’s site in the event of an emergency.

“If it’s just 24 hours, it doesn’t have to be a huge tank. A 250-gallon tank or even a smaller one will do,” says Green. “But in cases where someone has to go without gas for a week, maybe they live in a flood-prone area and you can’t get to them, a lot more storage capacity is needed to meet the Btu specifications, and that’s unique to each customer.”

The company also recommends having tank monitors at each installation. If regular deliveries are not made, the monitors build relationships with customers and encourage them to return to Green’s Blue Flame Gas when needed.

When customers balk at the idea of ​​tank monitors, the team points out the mutually beneficial aspect of knowing the tank level at all times. Generators are designed to turn on periodically. Each time a generator turns on, it uses a small amount of gas. This consumption can add up over time.

“If you don’t have that monitor installed and you run the system once a week for a year, or maybe even several years, the tank level will be pretty low,” says Green. “Then an emergency occurs and you’re out of power for several days, but you don’t have a full tank to run.”

Using tank monitors, the company can schedule a delivery at the right time and ensure that the generator is running when the customer needs it most.

Marketing and email communication can strengthen customer relationships between deliveries.

“Even if the customer doesn’t decide to set up the monitor,” says Green, “if you send them these materials, you’ll at least be at the top of their list when the time comes.”

Diversification

Green’s Blue Flame Gas partners with local generator suppliers to attract emergency power customers.

“They know we do quality work and have fair prices, so they recommend us to their customers who are buying generators in areas where there is no natural gas supply,” says Green.

The Houston area uses natural gas predominantly, and while some areas continue to use propane only, opportunities for standard residential propane installations are limited, Green said. The backup power allows the company to generate revenue in other ways.

“We don’t give up on a customer who uses all gas to install (standby systems),” Green explains. “We fill in the gaps if we don’t have those (all-gas) installations.”

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

The propane dealer can facilitate the installation of the propane gas system and enter into a gas supply contract for several years.

Learn more

Installing generators has different regulations than typical residential propane systems, so companies must train their 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 conducts inspections and provides consulting, to make sure his team is up to date. For more information on safety considerations when installing backup generators, read Randy Warner’s February “Safety First” column here.