MONROE, LA – Earlier today St. Francis Medical Center held a Groundbreaking and Blessing of the Soil event for its new Central Energy Plant (CEP). A central energy plant includes critical infrastructure for a hospital including mechanical and electrical operations, HVAC and backup generators.
"I'm very excited about the plans for our new Central Energy Plant (CEP). Our current plant is over 20 years old which exceeds what is considered a normal life expectancy," said Dr. Thomas Gullatt, President of St. Francis Medical Center. "This construction is an exciting step in moving St. Francis Forward as we plan to care for generations to come."
The new facility will be located on Wood Street which is adjacent to the main hospital campus in downtown Monroe and will include state-of-the-art chillers, boilers, mechanical systems, piping, generators and a power grid. This $37.5 million critical infrastructure project will take approximately 20 months to complete and will be funded through St. Francis Medical Center's capital budget over the next two years.
Construction of this CEP is the first phase of a long-term facility master plan for the downtown St. Francis campus.