Energy switch for LGH
$4.5m conversion to natural gas and own electricity plant

The Launceston General Hospital will fund its own $4.5 million conversion to natural gas with the money that it saves long term on the cost of existing heavy oil and bottled-gas boilers. The LGH will also generate its own electricity from a new co- generation plant that should be operational by next April, selling any excess power to the State grid, LGH chief executive Stephen Ayre said yesterday.Tenders have closed for the multi- million dollar conversion of the hospital from oil and LPG-fired power to natural gas and a separate tender for the lucrative ongoing gas supply to the LGH.Launceston-based Option One natural gas retailers confirmed yesterday that it was one of the tenderers for the 10-year supply contract and it is believed that Aurora was the other.Discussions have been under way on the LGH conversion as one of the State's major potential natural gas users for nearly 12 months but it is believed that a final decision was delayed because of the Government's reluctance to fund the expensive infrastructure changeover.The LGH proposal to fund the changeover from fuel savings has enabled the project to go ahead.The finalisation of the sale of the old Launceston General Hospital site across the road has also been delayed by the natural gas decision because a big part of the conversion will involve the hospital laundry at the Howick St end of the old hospital site.Dr Ayre said that a natural gas- powered hospital would mean that the laundry chimney that towers over the site and the old, oil-fired boilers, could finally be decommissioned."They are so expensive to run because not only are they oil fired but the heavy oil has to be heated to make it flow," he said.Use of natural gas would make the LGH about 80 per cent self- sufficient, Dr Ayre said."It will give us increased flexibility and significantly more power in an emergency," he said.HAVE YOUR SAY: Write a letter to The Examiner at PO Box 99, Launceston 7250, or e-mail editor@examiner.com.au