By this time next year the North Bay hospital will have more secure back-up power in an emergency. The development is thanks to a co-generation project with North Bay Hydro and the City of North Bay. Right now diesel engines only power 40 percent of the facility in a blackout but the co-gens will increase coverage to at least 85 percent during an outage. The co-gens use natural gas to generate electricity and Hydro spokesman Umar Waqas says the waste heat they produce create a spin-off benefit which is to heat water and that can be used to heat or cool down different parts of the facility. The City is loaning the hospital about $4 million dollars for the project which it will pay back over 20 years from the energy savings the co generators create. Another $2 million is being accessed through another program.