The University of California–Irvine is set to finish construction on a new health center—fully electric and solar-powered with diesel fuel generator backups—by 2025.
It will be the first all-electric hospital in the country.
“UCI Health is building the next chapter of healthcare in Orange County,” UCI Health CEO Chad. T. Lefteris said in a 2021 press release when the project broke ground. “The new UCI Medical Center–Irvine will be a full-service academic medical complex bringing a broad range of the most advanced healthcare services to coastal and southern Orange County, including access to the hundreds of clinical trials underway at UCI Health.”
Plans for the hospital recently received “green” certification from the Green Building Certification Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that provides, in part, such rankings for construction projects.
The new four-story facility will have 180 beds with 20 reserved for its emergency department and another 16 for temporary observation.
Construction costs are estimated at $770 million, with the final costs after purchase, taxes, and fees will be over $1 billion, according to Building Design + Construction Magazine.
The University of California requires new facilities to be all-electric, according to the magazine.
