Healthcare Renewable Energy Initiative
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Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s leading organization for healthcare institutions committed to implementing sustainable, eco-friendly practices, and Citi, a global leader in renewable energy, have announced a new pilot partnership effort: the Healthcare Renewable Energy Initiative.
The Healthcare Renewable Energy Initiative (HREI) is an offering of transparent and flexible financing options for health systems and hospitals seeking to reduce energy consumption and become more energy efficient. The HREI involves two phases:
- An independent engineering firm will conduct a thorough analysis of the potential feasibility of renewable energy alternatives for the health system, based on an analysis of the physical plant and existing energy use patterns.
- If the engineering assessment indicates potential feasibility, Citi will work with the hospital to assess, finance and implement the most cost-effective structure that enables the hospital to purchase green energy. In most cases, the most cost-effective structure to achieve these goals is a Power Purchase Agreement.
This initiative will be piloted in New Jersey and Massachusetts, where current state subsidies enable hospitals to utilize solar power to save money, hedge energy costs, and reduce their carbon footprint. Scalability to other states will continue to be assessed.
“The HREI brings together two established strengths of Citi – our not-for-profit healthcare financing business and our strong belief in sustainable business practices,” said Andrew Pines, managing director, Healthcare Finance Group at Citi. “As a global corporate citizen, Citi views sustainability issues from both a risk and an opportunity perspective. We always look for opportunities to make sustainable investments and to develop products and services with a positive environmental and social impact.”
“We know the healthcare sector is very interested in renewable energy, decreasing its environmental footprint, and role-modeling sustainability in their communities,” said Anna Gilmore Hall, Executive Director of Practice Greenhealth. “This growing commitment will be enhanced by this partnership, which is yet another way Practice Greenhealth is helping our members meet their sustainability goals.”
Citi and Practice Greenhealth believe that working to promote environmental and social sustainability is good business practice. The HREI is a superior alternative for hospitals because it provides reliable execution, low-cost financing, transparency and flexibility. The program combines tax credits, tax equity, and debt to result in the lowest overall cost of power. Healthcare systems may realize cost savings if the price of renewable energy is lower than the cost of electricity purchased off the grid.
