More than $1 billion in redevelopment planned in the next decade on the sprawling campus is now beginning to take shape, with construction of a new, 1,700-space parking garage for the public and employees set to break ground this week.

The Hartford Hospital vision is ambitious, also including a new, in-patient tower, an expanded cancer treatment center, and the renovation of historic properties for community-based clinical services.

But what people will never see — and not more than a handful of hospital employees will be able to enter — is what is considered by the hospital as the lynchpin to the entire redevelopment plan: a $23 million upgrade of its electrical plant that will power the expansion.

“When we talk about it, people are like, ‘it’s not a sexy project,’ ” Keith Grant,

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