The City of Austin Tuesday morning unveiled the new, $18 million Mueller Energy Center.

KVUE

Tuesday the City of Austin revealed the new $18 million Mueller Energy Center.

The power plant will provide power to the new Dell Children's Medial Center which is under construction at the old Mueller Airport in East Austin. It will also serve other buildings at the redevelopment site.

According to a news release from Austin Energy, the power plant is one of the first in Texas that can provide 100 percent of the electricity, cooling and heating required by a large hospital.

It's also one of the most efficient energy centers. Steam from the natural gas-fueled electric generator will provide heat for the hospital. In the summer, the steam will be chemically chilled to provide air conditioning.

That means it will use 20 percent less fuel and emit 40 percent less carbon.

Energy officials say the Mueller Energy Center will be able to produce about twice as much power as the hospital will require.

"This will be the only hospital in Texas with an on-site power plant that feeds power back into the electric grid," said Chris Kirksey, Austin Energy Senior Vice President, Power Production. "The operation of this plant will provide invaluable experience to our company regarding the management of distributed generation within our generation mix and electric system."

Austin Mayor Will Wynn was on hand for the dedication.

"This plant represents leading-edge technology that addresses the triple goals of every city in America for energy reliability, homeland security and environmental stewardship," Wynn said.