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NLine Energy and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Win Joseph M. Brillhart Innovation Award at IDEA2025

via Business Wire

Six IDEA members recognized for their collaboration to provide sustainable systems at the campus

The International District Energy Association (IDEA) is proud to announce that NLine Energy and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center have been awarded the Joseph M. Brillhart Innovation Award for their sustainability efforts at the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (PSHMC) at IDEA2025, the organization’s annual conference and trade show, which was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota in June.

In its thirteenth year, the Innovation Award represents the best in public and private collaboration, where members share emerging best practices, new technologies and techniques, and the tremendous value of collaboration within the industry. This year, IDEA selected a group of seven organizations – six being IDEA members – which collaborated on their “Sustainable Energy Transformation” submission, highlighting their efforts to create a resilient, cost-effective, and sustainable energy platform across PSHMC’s 550-acre medical and research campus in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

While the application was submitted by teams at NLine Energy (the Microsteam® Turbine Integration Partner on the project) and Penn State University (system owner), several other key partners were also recognized for their contribution to the project. These included Optimum Energy (chilled water and airside optimization), B|C Energy (microgrid and onsite generation), CHA (engineering partner), CadeCor (lighting partner), and Johnson Controls (technology partner), who were also recognized for their contributions to the project. Their collective efforts exemplify the spirit of innovation and strategy, aligning perfectly with this year’s conference theme: Aggregate, Integrate, Innovate.

“We were lucky enough to be part of something bold, timely, and incredibly meaningful,” said Katie Bickford, Chief Commercial Officer at NLine. “At NLine, we have the opportunity to work on so many incredible projects, and with Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, it was clear that this project was the exceptional example of what happens when technical innovation meets leadership with vision. We were so inspired by its impact that we felt compelled to submit this nomination on behalf of the many contributors who made it possible.”

Prior to this collaboration, PSHMC was fully dependent on grid-supplied electricity and conventional steam pressure reduction valves, which wasted valuable thermal energy. Recognizing the need for a resilient, cost-effective energy platform, these organizations advanced PSHMC to system-wide generation, storage, and optimization initiatives, including the installation of a 7.5 MW Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system (featuring a combustion gas turbine generator and a heat recovery steam generator), construction of a 1.4-million-gallon Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tank, and the installation of a of 275 kW Microsteam® Turbine (MST).

These three innovations have proved extremely successful for PSHMC. The CHP system now provides 54% of campus electricity and 96% of steam load while operating at over 80% system efficiency. This has led to annual cost savings of $4 million and avoided over 25,700 metric tons of CO₂ emissions. The TES tank contributes to 1.62 GWh in peak demand reduction annually and the MST captures waste energy from steam pressure reduction and generates approximately 1.67 million kWh of carbon-free electricity annually.

Upon accepting the award and reflecting on the collaborative efforts required to ensure mission-critical energy supply to a hospital while simultaneously upgrading the system, Kevin Kanoff, Campus Energy Engineer shared, “The reality is when you go and innovate energy systems for a facility like ours, it becomes very nerve-wracking because our mission is patient health and cutting-edge research and that goes on 24-7/365, so when you bring all that, there’s a lot of pressure to accomplish that and do it well while maintaining the mission.” Kevin closed by imploring the audience to “innovate, improve, take our energy systems to a new level, look for support, build relationships and let’s go change the world.”

By replacing aging chillers and targeting improvements to HVAC systems, lighting, controls and heat recovery, PSHMC has seen a 25% reduction in energy use intensity across the campus. The efforts at PSHMC have been recognized with PEER Platinum Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, was awarded the Greater Good Award from Microgrid Knowledge, and has received multiple honors from the U.S. Green Building Council of Pennsylvania.

IDEA also awarded Honorable Mention designations to four other excellent submissions: Cordia and Capture H20 (“Cooling Water Treatment Optimization Saves 10 million Gallons a Year at Energy Center San Diego”); Empower (“District Cooling Plant Optimization using Machine Learning”); Exergenics (“Sydney Airport International Terminal T1 Chilled Water Plant Optimization”); and Corix (“Bellingham District Energy Utility”).

This is the second year the award was given out as the Joseph M. Brillhart Innovation Award, named after the beloved former IDEA Board Chair, Executive Committee Member, and employee of Johnson Controls. Brillhart passed away in 2023 and the IDEA Board unanimously voted to name the award after him.

You can watch the awards ceremony here and read the submissions on our website.

About NLine Energy, Inc.

NLine Energy, Inc. is an American clean energy manufacturer and project development company committed to advancing industrial decarbonization. The company’s signature technology, the Microsteam® Turbine, is a modernized backpressure turbine designed for compact, low-maintenance deployment within existing steam systems. By converting steam pressure into electricity, NLine enables facilities to boost energy efficiency, reduce emissions, and unlock new value from infrastructure already in place.

About Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is the only locally based academic medical center in central Pennsylvania. The 611-bed medical center provides adults and children with advanced patient-focused care for cancer, heart, vascular and neurological conditions. It is Pennsylvania’s only nationally verified Level I Trauma Center for both children and adults. Hershey Medical Center shares its campus with Penn State Cancer Institute, Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, the region’s most comprehensive children’s hospital between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

About IDEA

The International District Energy Association (IDEA) is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit industry association founded in the United States in 1909. IDEA now has a membership of nearly 3,000 industry professionals representing more than 30 countries around the world. IDEA’s mission is to actively foster the success of its members as leaders in providing reliable, economical, efficient and environmentally sound district heating, district cooling and combined heat and power to optimize energy efficiency, emissions reductions and sustainable solutions for mission-critical and community-scale markets.

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