City explores clean energy

Dunedin institutions are exploring an eco-friendly energy system for the central city as they face a future away from coal.

A project to replace and rebuild Dunedin Hospital – one of the largest infrastructure projects in New Zealand – was the catalyst for a rethink over the city’s energy system.

The Dunedin City Council, University of Otago, Southern District Health Board and the Ministry of Health have agreed to jointly investigate the development of a low-carbon energy system that could provide costeffective heating.

Peter Hodgson, chair of the Local Advisory Group that works with city partners regarding the hospital rebuild, said the facility would not be ‘‘fired with coal anymore’’.

The hospital was likely to be heated by a product such as wood chip instead.

The change meant it made sense to explore having a centrally-located energy system that could be used by other groups in central Dunedin, he said.

‘‘The new hospital is going to be an event that is much more than a building, it is going to decarbonise a little bit of Dunedin.’’

The city’s major institutions had signed a memorandum of understanding, led by Enterprise Dunedin as part of the city’s wider energy plan.

Council energy plan coordinator Jeremy Baker said the Pioneer Energy Centre currently provided heated to the hospital, university, and other users including the former Cadbury factory. The centre, which mainly used coal and some wood chip, had been earmarked for the new hospital site along with the old Cadbury site.