Milwaukee Regional Medical Center

Milwaukee Regional Medical Center Thermal (MRMC Thermal) provides steam and chilled water for heating, cooling, and critical process load for the hospitals and other buildings on the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center (MRMC) campus. MRMC acquired the thermal system in 2017, and Ever-Green played a critical role in completing an overhaul of the thermal system infrastructure, improving service reliability and reducing costs.

With leadership from Ever-Green Energy, MRMC Thermal made additional infrastructure investments that improved the reliability of steam and chilled water service, which are critical to the operation of the hospitals and research facilities on campus.

A new plant was constructed to implement more energy-efficient natural gas operations, which will help moderate or reduce future energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, benefiting the medical center organizations and their patients.

Ever-Green provides system operations, maintenance, and management including business development, construction oversight, plant commissioning, system start-up, and water management services.

The medical center is a consortium of six health care institutions. The campus is home to a Level 1 Adult Trauma Center at a nationally ranked academic medical center and a Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center at Children’s Wisconsin. The medical center member organizations provide continuum of care rehabilitation services and offer new discoveries and cures to patients throughout the world. Milwaukee Regional Medical Center members share a common mission of excellence in patient care, medical education, life-science research, and community service.

Throughout the study and planning phase, the Oberlin team worked closely with Ever-Green to solicit input from students, faculty, staff, and community partners, including the City of Oberlin, and local civic, business, and community groups. It is a priority of the project team to interact with a broad group of perspectives and to learn from the local experts who understand and have a significant stake in the outcomes of this effort.

In construction, Ever-Green supports Oberlin’s stakeholder engagement through community and campus forums, academic integration, intern management, tours, and project communication. The team collaborated with the geology department on a program featuring the geothermal system as a key learning opportunity. Student interns are gaining real-world experience while providing project support in the areas of student outreach, video development, GIS mapping, and energy system operation information.

System operation, maintenance, and management including business development, construction oversight, plant commissioning, system start up, and water management services

Health care

8 Million square feet

24

• Level I Adult Trauma Center
• Level I Pediatric Trauma Center

• District heating
• District cooling
• Diesel generators/power production

• Advancing System Resilience at Milwaukee Regional Medical Center
• Winner of IDEA System of the Year 2021

• 2015 – Ever-Green Energy was hired to form a new utility. Ever-Green will operate, maintain, and manage MRMC Thermal.
• 2016 – Change of ownership, MRMC Thermal Services, Inc. purchased the Milwaukee County Power Plant from Wisconsin Energy Corporation.
• 2016 – System recapitalization and conversion from coal to natural gas with construction of a new plant for the heating system, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 50 percent.
• 2016 – Legacy coal fired system demolition and distribution network upgrade commencement.
• 2017 – Major demolition completion, new equipment installation commencement.
• 2018 – New equipment startups including electrical switchgear, boilers, chillers, diesel generators, cooling towers, control system, building systems, and distribution piping.
• 2019 – Ever-Green took responsibility for operation and maintenance of the potable water systems on the campus.
• 2019 – Ever-Green began the development of a campus utility master plan.
• 2021 – Recognized by the International District Energy Association as System of the Year.

“Here at Milwaukee Regional Medical Center we have many vendors, but only a couple strategic partners. For us, Ever-Green has been the very definition of strategic partner. They possess what I refer to as strategic empathy. That is, they embrace the strategic initiatives of their clients and provide real tangible value. This has been evident in Ever-Green meeting or exceeding every major milestone of our very complex $250 million central utility plant and distribution project. Time and again our team has given them large, complex goals and each and every time the Ever-Green team has risen to the occasion to achieve them. They understand our world of limited resources and consistently demonstrate an ability to prioritize initiatives and investments based on sound ROI metrics. Ever-Green’s commitment to excellence is evident at all levels of their organization, and their leadership team has been very intentional about creating a culture of accountability. Their integrity is beyond reproach.”
Bob Simi
Executive Director
Milwaukee Regional Medical Center