Study into replacing coal boilers
QUEENSTOWN’S historic steamship TSS Earnslaw could soon be going green.
The owner of the tourist excursion vessel has begun a feasibility study into replacing its coalfired boilers with an environmentally friendly means of propulsion.
RealNZ chief executive Stephen EnglandHall said the ship’s original boilers would soon need replacing, which would be a ‘‘major and invasive piece of work’’ requiring the vessel to be out of the water for an extended time.
‘‘That would be the obvious time to implement a carbonneutral or carbonzero solution,’’ Mr EnglandHall said.
‘‘We will essentially look for a new source of heat to generate steam that replaces the coal.’’
Carbonneutral options were wood pellets or biodiesel fuel, while carbonzero options were renewable hydrogen fuel, batteryelectric or fully electric.
The technology required was
continually advancing, and preserving the ship’s authenticity made it a complex project.
However, the aim was to keep the engine room fully operational and intact.
The company wanted to operate the vessel sustainably for the next 100 years, and had a responsibility to ‘‘weigh up every inch of her heritage value with our ambition to protect and preserve the places where we operate’’.
Earnslaw carries passengers across Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown to the Colonel’s Homestead and Walter Peak High Country Farm.
It is the oldest coalfired passengercarrying steamship in the southern hemisphere.
To celebrate its 109th anniversary yesterday, it went for a special twohour evening cruise down the north arm of the lake towards Glenorchy to a viewing point of Mt Earnslaw.