Solar Hot Water Installation Save on Chopper Costs

Solar Hot Water Installations Save on Chopper Costs

The Department of Conservation is installing solar hot water heaters in selected huts and staff quarters throughout the South Island, saving thousands on the cost of delivering LPG to remote areas.

DOC is installing solar hot water heaters on 13 huts including 5 trampers huts and 8 wardens quarters huts in the South Island and it is estimated that the savings in helicopter flights will be approximately $2,000 per annum, per site.

The installation of solar hot water heaters means that fewer helicopter trips will be required to fly in heavy LPG gas bottles to the hut sites because less gas will need to be used to heat water.

DOC Sustainability Manager, Kathryn Maxwell, said, “Nearly 25% of DOC’s emissions come from helicopters and installing solar hot water at the serviced huts will reduce that significantly.”

The solar hot water will supplement existing gas-heated water supply for showers in the wardens’ quarters. In trampers’ huts, the solar-heated water is to provide pre-heated water for cooking to save LPG on gas cookers.

“DOC’s Sustainability Programme aims to reduce energy usage by 10% between 2006 and 2010, which is a public service target,” Maxwell, said. “This has led to massive reductions in the operational costs and frees up resources for other conservation work.”

The companies contracted for this work were Solar Group, SUNZ and Solar City.

DOC secured funding for 50% of the cost of purchase and installation of the equipment from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) which has supported DOC with the outfit.

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