{"id":282237,"date":"2018-08-15T06:06:05","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T20:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=282237"},"modified":"2018-08-15T06:06:05","modified_gmt":"2018-08-14T20:06:05","slug":"solar-power-seen-to-cut-chcs-utility-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/solar-power-seen-to-cut-chcs-utility-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar power seen to cut CHC\u2019s utility cost"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, seventh left, and Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther L. Mu\u00f1a, 11th left, lead the shoveling of dirt in Monday\u2019s groundbreaking ceremony for the Photovoltaic System Parking Shade Structure at the Commonwealth Health Center parking lot.
(JON PEREZ)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. officials joined Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, and members of the Legislature at the Commonwealth Health Center parking lot on Monday to break ground on the hospital\u2019s solar power project.<\/p>\n

CHCC chief executive officer Esther L. Mu\u00f1a said that CHCC is estimated to save as much as $700,000 on its utility bills once the solar project at the hospital\u2019s grounds is completed by next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will definitely reap some savings for us. We\u2019re looking at about $700,000 in the first five years after the project is completed. It reduces the use of fossil fuels and it requires us to promote use of other energy resources so that\u2019s something that we\u2019re looking forward to,\u201d said Mu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

The project, called the Photovoltaic System Parking Shade Structure, is made possible after CHCC received a $560,000 grant from the Department of the Interior\u2019s Office of Insular Affairs. The project is expected to be completed on\u00a0April 6, 2019.<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1a said the project is long overdue for a healthcare facility like CHC, as it would save them money that they can use for other services. \u201cWhen you think about utility cost, it is one of the top three items that is of huge expense for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever savings that we get for our organization, will basically go back to the community. What we do with that savings is to likely expand our services and improve quality. We are very excited with this project.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that the hospital consumes a lot of energy due to the 24-hour air-conditioning and the equipment they use everyday. \u201cObviously, we consume a lot of energy. So we want to reduce that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s groundbreaking is only for the first phase of the project that would cover the entire parking lot of the hospital. \u201cThe first phase will cover section D of the parking lot. We\u2019re applying for other grants so we could continue all the way to the north side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1a thanked Assistant Secretary Douglas V. Domenech and his team for approving the funding for the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you also to Gov. Torres and Lt. Gov. [Victor] Hocog for always supporting CHCC\u2019s projects. To the Legislature, your support would ensure that we could provide continued healthcare that is accessible and affordable to the community,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n

The groundbreaking was also attended by CHCC board chair Lauri Ogumoro and Hocog.
\n\u00a0
\nAlternative energy source<\/strong><\/p>\n

Torres and Ogumoro said it is about time to take advantage of the CNMI\u2019s tropical weather and harness sunlight as a source of energy that would save the hospital money.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get an alternative source of energy here. We have sunlight all year-round. The solar panels would reduce utility costs and then create a similar parking space like [the Marianas Business Plaza],\u201d said Torres.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow you\u2019re going to have a parking [lot] that has shade, keeps you dry, and, on top of that, there\u2019s solar panels. They can do other activities here in the evening as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ogumoro added: \u201cSolar panels are the best way to harness the energy that\u2019s always been available in the CNMI. \u2026This is what\u2019s happening all over the world and we\u2019re finally catching up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThings are finally getting underway. We\u2019re looking forward to the first and second phases. It has been a work in progress and thanks to the team at CHCC, we\u2019re finally going to start Phase 1. [The sunlight] out here is what we want to harness for the [hospital],\u201d Ogumoro added.<\/p>\n

The CNMI Office of Grants Management collaborated with CHCC in making sure that the CNMI would get the grant from OIA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for working collaboratively with our grants office. Everytime we have groundbreaking we can\u2019t wait for ribbon cutting,\u201d said Torres.<\/p>\n

Torres also encouraged the CNMI State Public School System to study the project so they too can reduce their energy dependency.
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. officials joined Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, and members of the Legislature at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":282238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[666,26,92,244],"class_list":["post-282237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-chcc","tag-cnmi","tag-commonwealth-health-center","tag-utility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}