Hornsby Hospital will benefit from major energy efficiencies as part of the NSW Government’s $8.1 million solar package for hospitals.

Energy Minister Matt Kean and Health Minister Brad Hazzard today announced the NSW Government will spend $1.5 million on the installation of solar panels on available roof space at Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital.

“The NSW Government is committed to delivering a secure, modern and affordable energy system for our State and I am thrilled Hornsby Hospital is at the centre of this initiative,” Mr Kean said.

“This initiative shows the benefits of using solar energy to save our hospitals money and reduce our carbon footprint.”

Minister for Health Brad Hazzard said the $8.1 million package will also be used to fund solar panel installations at Fairfield, Canterbury and John Hunter hospitals.

“The $3.2 million solar panel installation at John Hunter Hospital will be the biggest hospital solar project in Australia, with solar panels covering 12,000 square metres of the hospital’s roof space,” Mr Hazzard said.

“Hospitals use a sizeable portion of the state’s total energy consumption, so using our roof space to generate power is a smart way to reduce our dependency on the grid.

“By making our hospitals more energy-efficient, these solar projects will help bring our costs down, freeing up funds that can be invested back into the health system.”

Port Macquarie Hospital was the first in NSW to have solar panels installed under this program. Around $224,000 has been saved on electricity costs since June 2018. Solar panels are being installed at Blacktown Hospital and are due to go live in February 2020. They are expected to save $194,000 every year in electricity costs.

The 2019-20 budget for Northern Sydney Local Health District is $1.7 billion, an increase of $57 million on last year.