Canberra to get 100% renewables-powered hospital

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government on Wednesday announced that the country’s first 100% renewables-powered hospital will be built in Canberra.

The Canberra Hospital Expansion project, to enter construction in 2021, will create a new emergency, surgical and critical healthcare facility spanning 40,000 sq m at the hospital campus in Woden. It will use all-electric heat pumps running on green energy that will be avoiding 1,886 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year.

The new hospital facility will be completed in 2024.

The ACT Climate Change Strategy 2019-2025 released recently includes efforts to ensure new government buildings are all-electric and emissions-free.

“Buildings like these will last for decades to come, and would otherwise be gas-powered - at significant health and financial cost to our community. Gas is a polluting fossil fuel, and the ACT Government has committed to transitioning away from climate-warming energy sources and instead, is fully embracing the renewable energy revolution,” commented ACT climate change minister Shane Rattenbury.

The ACT was Australia’s first state or territory to fully transition to 100% renewable electricity supply. One of the projects from which it sources green power is the Hornsdale wind farm.

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