By Samantha Gee
Nelson Hospital is not burning coal this winter for the first time since the late 1800s, with its hot water and heating now fully powered by landfill gas.
The chimney tower of the hospital's coal boiler, which was deemed earthquake-prone almost 10 years ago, is being dismantled after further investment in the York Valley Landfill meant enough methane was being captured to meet the hospital's needs. The hospital has been using a mix of coal and landfill gas for heating since 2002.
It comes after community groups and individuals petitioned the Nelson City Council and former Nelson Marlborough District Health Board for years to end industrial coal use in the region.
In 2019, Nelson GP Dr Ngaire Warner called on the health board to stop burning coal, given the environmental and health concerns it posed.
She said it was "long overdue" but she was delighted that Nelson Hospital was no longer burning fossil fuels.
"It's ironic and really quite disheartening that a health facility continued to burn a fuel well known to have a negative impact on the health of individuals and our wider community for such a long time," Dr Warner said.
"There is extensive research showing that coal burning contributes to lung disease and respiratory illnesses, so every small change that corporations can implement to the reduce the burden of disease in our community is a win for everyone."
Nelson's air quality issues
In 2003, open fires were banned in Nelson and tough regulations on woodburner use were introduced from 2010 to improve the city's air quality as it struggled to comply with national air quality standards.
Nelson's mayor Nick Smith said end of coal use at the hospital would make a big difference to the city's greenhouse gas emissions and reduce particulate pollution to a negligible level.
"Nelson South was one of the most polluted areas anywhere in New Zealand 20 years ago and council's made a big effort in reducing the number of log burners. So, it's improved hugely, but the coal burnt at the hospital remained the largest source of particulate pollution."
He said the chimney also posed a seismic risk and in a large earthquake, was at risk of collapsing onto Waimea Road, disrupting access on one of the main arterial routes to the city and access to the hospital.
It had been issued with an earthquake-prone building notice in 2019 which required it to have seismic work completed by 2028.
In 2023, Te Whatu Ora Health NZ applied for consent from the Nelson City Council to burn up to 4000 tonnes of coal a year, for another seven years, to heat and power its buildings. This was despite the government aiming to phase out the boilers in hospitals by the end of 2025.
Health NZ later withdrew the application, and Smith said it had agreed to work with the council to increase the use of landfill gas to meet its heating and electricity needs.
More landfill gas captured at York Valley
Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council, through the Nelson Tasman Regional Landfill Business Unit (NTRLBU), jointly invested $2.4 million in the landfill in recent years.
An additional 69 gas wells had been installed that had tripled the amount of methane collected at the landfill, along with a new compressor and chiller system and upgrades to the pipes to the furnace at the hospital.
Of that investment, Smith said $800,000 had been spent on buying the rights to capture the landfill gas from Pioneer Energy along with the pipeline, the boilers and pumps.
NTRLBU now sells landfill gas to Health NZ and Smith said it expected that 2 million cubic metres of landfill gas would be used by the hospital each year, amounting to about 40 percent of the gas recovered from the landfill.
Smith said Nelson's total greenhouse gas emissions were 260,000 tonne CO2 equivalent per year and the end of coal use at the hospital meant that had been reduced by around a third (80,000 tonne CO2e a year).
What does this mean for the redeveloped Nelson Hospital?
The contract between the council and Health NZ to use landfill gas expires next April, and Smith said the two organisations were in the process of negotiating a new contract.
"The preferred outcome would be to continue to use the landfill gas, but that will need to be worked through with Health New Zealand," Smith said.
Health Minister Simeon Brown said in May a new energy centre would be built to house critical hospital infrastructure as part of the hospital's $500 million redevelopment, but Health NZ said it was "too soon" to comment on whether it would use landfill gas or what it would look like.
Te Whatu Ora Te Waipounamu regional head of infrastructure Dr Rob Ojala said coal had been burnt at Nelson Hospital since the late 1800s, and the current boiler house and chimney were built in 1959 to replace a previous boiler house.
As part of its transition to cleaner energy, the deconstruction of the Nelson Hospital chimney began five weeks ago and was estimated to take around two months, with about five meters of concrete crushed each day.
The work was expected to cost around $300,000 and was funded through EECA's State Sector Decarbonisation Fund.
Ojala said the boilers would now burn landfill gas, with diesel as a backup fuel if needed.
Consent to use landfill gas sat with NTRLBU, who own the main boiler, and Ojala said the plan was for ownership to change to Health NZ at a later date.
