NZ:Hospital to use diesel generators

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Hospital to use diesel generators By Gail Goodger

Dunedin Hospital is to start using generator power early next week to cut its electricity use by about a quarter.

The two hospital diesel generators would supply power to two areas of the hospital to reduce the amount of electricity the hospital used from the national grid, Otago District Health Board deputy chief executive Ewan Soper said yesterday.

The generators, usually used during power cuts, would operate for 12 hours daily. They had been rigorously tested and overhauled when it was feared the Y2K bug could disrupt major services as computers switched to the year 2000. They were also tested every few months and the hospital could quickly revert to electricity if necessary.

Meridian Energy had asked the hospital if it could use generators and, while negotiations were continuing, it appeared Meridian would meet the cost of running the generators, he said. The hospital has a fixed-price contract with the electricity retailer for power.

The generators would probably be used until electricity wholesale market spot prices dropped, making it more economic for Meridian to buy on the spot market than subsidise the generators.

Generators were used during the 1992 power crisis as well.

Hospital staff have also been keeping corridor lights off during the day and taking other power-saving measures.

Low lake levels have prompted fears of power blackouts in future months.

Heavy rain from Fiordland to Tekapo yesterday led to some rises but Raineffects hydrological consultant David Stewart, of Dunedin, said the true impact would not be known until today.

While levels had risen yesterday compared with last week in lakes Manapouri, Te Anau, Hawea, Wanaka and Wakatipu, they had dropped in Tekapo, Pukaki and Taupo.

However, overall, the water supply had remained relatively constant, about 1240GW hours, Mr Stewart said.

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research senior scientist Dr Brett Mullan said long-term forecasts yesterday indicated rainfalls would be about average overall during the next three months in Otago and Canterbury.

http://www1.odt.co.nz/cgi-bin/getitem?date=03Aug2001&object=J2F03B6646LG&type=html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 05, 2001


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