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The story of South Oaks Hospital, Amityville Long Island, is of particular interest due
to the amount of time, nearly 15 days, that the site was able to continuously operate,
separated from the grid.
South Oaks isolated itself from the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) grid on the
evening of October 28, and remained disconnected from the grid for approximately
fi fteen days. LIPA was able to restore power to the sub-station that services the
facility about fi ve days after the storm. However, the grid was still not stable at that
time and LIPA requested that South Oaks remain disconnected from the grid due
to continued loss of power and phases in the area. South Oaks was able to provide
critical services for two weeks relying solely on their CHP system. They admitted
patients from other sites that had been displaced by the storm. They offered
refrigeration for vital medicines to those who had lost power and had no means of
keeping medicines refrigerated. The staff and local community were welcome to
come to the hospital to perform important tasks such as recharging phones and
other electronic devices, and having a place to shower.
12
Not included in the ICF study The Brevoort a Cooperative at 11 Fifth Avenue, NY,
NY. This 20-story Coop features 280 apartments. The residential high rise houses
a natural gas powered CHP system with four 100 kW CHP units. All 280 apartments
were served through Superstorm Sandy. Normal occupancy is 720 people. During
Sandy, the Brevoort was able to house and provide power to nearly 1,500 people
through the storm.
" Powered by our CHP system, we were the only building on lower Fifth Avenue
able to provide energy and full service to our residents." Diane Nardone,
President of the Brevoort coop board
The Brevoort was able to maintain power for central boilers, domestic water pumps,
all elevators and all apartments.
Figure 1. CHP versus Backup Generation for Providing Resiliency
