Australia's largest hospital solar panel project is set to begin at John Hunter Hospital this year.
The $3.2 million dollar project will begin in June or July and is slated to be finished by December.
The panels are estimated to cover 85% of the hospital's roof space, equivalent to 12,000 square meters.
The project is part of an $8.1 million dollar package that will install solar panels at various hospitals across the region.
The initiative is expected to produce approximately 10% of the electricity currently used, with estimated savings of over 2700 MWh per year, which equates to the amount of energy used to power over 200 homes.
Executive Director of Infrastructure and Health for New England Health, Ramsey Awad says this will save the hospital over $800,000 dollars a year once the installation is up and running.
"That money will be put back into front line clinical services, whether that be the emergency department, community health, theater or out patients," Mr Awad says.
"That money will be put back into front line clinical services, whether that be the emergency department, community health, theater or out patients," Mr Awad says.
"We're hoping as the largest hospital in this region that other smaller facilities will follow."
The project is part of an wider plan by New England Health to move towards becoming carbon and waste neutral.
Minister for Health, Brad Hazzard, says that hospitals consume a significant amount of energy and using roof space to generate power will reduce 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.”
The first hospital in NSW to have solar panels installed was Port Macquarie in 2018 and has reportedly saved over $200, 000 since then.
