Multi-hospital academic health system modernizes critical cooling infrastructure without CapEx

The central cooling plant at the health system’s flagship hospital had reached the end of its service life. As its capacity degraded, the hospital relied on rental chillers and generators each summer to keep a 24/7 acute-care facility running through the region’s long cooling season, at a recurring cost of roughly $1 million per summer. The rentals solved nothing structurally, and a failing plant put operational resilience at risk. A permanent fix would require a multimillion-dollar capital outlay, competing with clinical priorities and requiring sign-off from a buying group of more than a dozen stakeholders spanning facilities, operations, real estate, finance, legal, and capital planning.

Redaptive aligned the health system’s dozen-plus stakeholders and financed the project through energy-as-a-service (EaaS), preserving capital for clinical priorities and deferring payment until the new plant is complete and accepted. The program ran in sequence: a funded audit to assess the plant’s needs and establish a baseline, financial modeling of outcomes relative to current energy use, and a design to improve efficiency and reliability. From there, Redaptive ran delivery end to end. Our team wrote and issued the RFP to the health system’s requested vendors, leveled the bids, and awarded the work in consultation with the customer. Redaptive is now managing the installation of the full chiller plant and cooling tower, including controls and electrical upgrades, with ongoing performance reporting after completion.

The new plant is being installed without disrupting clinical operations, with resilience built in through N+1 redundancy, directly addressing the risk that prompted the project. On a net present value (NPV) basis, financing through Redaptive was equivalent to using the health system’s own capital; however, by choosing Redaptive, the health system did not have to incur upfront outlay, take on additional debt, or impact its credit rating. At the same time, the health system eliminated the recurring seasonal rental cost by installing permanent infrastructure. The relationship continues, with discussions underway about further efficiency opportunities across the system.