St George Hospital Case Study
9 January 2012
| Total investment amount |
$84,797 |
| Total annual savings |
$29,456 |
| MW hour savings |
159 |
| Return on investment |
35% |
| Payback period |
2.9 years |
St George Hospital is operated by Queensland Health and provides services such as Medical, Surgical, Accident and Emergency, Outpatients, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Postnatal care, Palliative Care, Pharmaceutical (Nurse). Visiting specialist services include Physician, Dermatology, Flying Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Psychiatry, Flying Surgeon, and Paediatrician. Queensland Health is a dynamic organisation committed to providing a range of services aimed at achieving good health and well-being for all Queenslanders. Through a network of 16 Health Service Districts and the Mater Hospitals, Queensland Health delivers a range of integrated services.
In 2011 Ecosave completed an energy conservation project at St George Hospital which included the following solutions:
- Lighting refurbishments to fluorescent fittings using energy efficient components
- Lighting replacements with energy efficient lights
- Re-lamping of existing light fittings with energy efficient lamps
- Air conditioning energy saving modules
- Air conditioning temperature set point adjustments
- Voltage power optimisation unit
A voltage power optimisation (VPO) unit has been installed and connected to the incoming electricity supply to the site’s main switchboard. The variable VPO unit chosen for this application eliminates excessive voltage spikes whilst maintaining voltage within the required limits and guaranteeing voltage of 220- 225V. This unit was installed on 23rd September and has performed as expected, with no issues or disruption to hospital operations.
The graph below shows the site voltage variations before and after the installation of the VPO unit.
Actual savings for this project were better than those originally estimated, achieving 159 MWh and $29,456 in savings compared to the 92 MWh and $15,887 in savings estimated in our proposal. This resulted in a 2.9 year payback on investment compared to 5.0 years estimated in our proposal. The additional savings were mainly due to the voltage optimisation unit estimated savings being very conservative and the unit ended up saving significantly higher amounts of energy.
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