(AP) – A southern Missouri medical center has received an energy efficiency loan from a state agency.

Ozarks Medical Center in West Plains is using the roughly $1.3 million low-interest loan to replace a hot water boiler, chiller and steam boiler. The improvements are expected to reduce its energy costs by about $155,000 a year, which will be used to repay the loan.

Ozarks Medical Center is a 114-bed, not-for-profit medical referral center. It serves 11 counties in south-central Missouri and north-central Arkansas.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development’s energy division makes the low-interest loans to not-for-profit and public hospitals, public schools, local governments and colleges.