San Marcos Medical Center

Salas O’Brien partnered with Kaiser Permanente to provide electrical engineering for their first new hospital developed with a microgrid. We provided electrical design for their new seven-story medical patient tower and 28,000-square-foot Central Utility Plant, including 1.75-megawatts of Bloom energy servers for on-site power generation and provision for photovoltaic and battery connection.

We designed the hospital with low-voltage DC lighting systems with Class 2 wiring, which eliminated the need for 5.6 miles of 3/4-inch conduit and 4.5 miles of metal-clad cables. The systems were the first-ever reviewed and approved by the California Department of Health Care Access and Information to use DC lighting on the patient care floors. In addition, the project is pursuing LEED Platinum certification.