Natural gas powers a turbine that generates electricity.
Heat emitted by the turbine is captured and used to produce steam, which supplies heating and cooling for the medical center campus. Because the medical center currently needs only about half of the electricity that its power plant is capable of producing, the medical center makes its surplus power available to other consumers in the state of California. Electricity sales to the Independent System Operator, California's statewide energy distributor, have helped offset the medical center's rising utility costs - especially the increased cost of natural gas. The medical center's power plant began generating electricity in July 1998. It replaced an old boiler plant, built circa 1920, which had become ineffective at meeting the medical center's heating and cooling needs.