By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s Havenhill Synergy Limited has received a grant to electrify 21 rural healthcare facilities in Oyo State using an energy-as-a-service business model. The facilities are mostly within peri-urban communities with limited reliable electricity access.
Havenhill, through this, will provide long-term operation and maintenance of the solar energy systems.
The solar energy company and eight others were chosen to receive a $2.6 million grant through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide reliable, affordable off-grid electricity to nearly 300 healthcare facilities in Sub-Saharan African countries.
Known as Power Africa, the grant aims to enable the delivery of continuous health care services by making available energy that is critical for powering essential devices, medical and sterilization equipment, diagnostics, cold storage for vaccines and medication, information technology, and lights.
Data has shown that nearly 60 per cent of all healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa have no access to electricity, and of those that do, only 34 per cent of hospitals and 28 per cent of health clinics have reliable, 24-hour access.
So, in support of the accelerated provision of off-grid solar energy to healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa, Power Africa has awarded grants to the following solar energy companies: Havenhill Synergy Limited (Nigeria); KYA-Energy Group (Togo); Muhanya Solar Limited (Zambia); Nanoé (Madagascar); OffGridBox (Rwanda); OnePower (Lesotho); PEG Solar (Ghana); SolarWorks! (Mozambique); and Zuwa Energy (Malawi).
These companies will utilize Power Africa funding to provide off-grid solar electricity solutions to 288 healthcare facilities across the nine countries represented.
According to Mr Mark Carrato, Power Africa Acting Coordinator: “Solar energy holds great potential to expand and improve health care delivery in sub-Saharan Africa, and off-grid solar technology offers a clean, affordable, and smart solution to electrify healthcare facilities located beyond the reach of national electricity grids.
“Power Africa’s experience shows that off-grid solar energy systems can be rapidly deployed to even the most rural facilities.”
On the part of USAID, its counsellor, Mr Chris Milligan said: “These awards demonstrate what we can accomplish when the public and private sectors join together to break down the barriers to reliable electricity for rural healthcare facilities.”
Other projects will see KYA-Energy Group electrifying 20 health centres in Togo and provide automated solar hand washing stations for infection prevention and solar phone charging stations for generating additional income.
In partnership with the Churches Health Association of Zambia, Muhanya Solar will provide electricity access to seven rural health facilities in Zambia and will also electrify staff housing to generate revenue for the operation and maintenance of the solar systems installed at the health facilities.
Nanoé will electrify 35 rural health facilities in the Ambanja and Ambilobe districts of Madagascar. The company will deploy nano-grids with the health facilities as anchors and connections running to staff housing. Electricity will be sold to the surrounding communities to generate income for the operation and maintenance of the nano-grids.
With their containerized solution, OffGridBox will provide renewable energy and clean water to six rural clinics in Rwanda. The company will also set up a pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) business model, selling electricity and clean water to the surrounding communities.
OnePower will electrify seven rural health facilities in Lesotho, using the facilities as anchor loads for mini-grids. In addition to powering the health facilities, the mini-grids will provide electricity access for rural communities served by the facilities.
PEG Solar will provide electricity access to 91 rural community healthcare facilities in Ghana. It will adopt a private-sector approach to energy service delivery for public health facilities, enabling rapid electrification of the facilities while significantly reducing the upfront financial burden of transitioning to solar energy.
SolarWorks! will electrify 92 rural healthcare facilities in Mozambique’s Sofala province. To ensure the sustainability of the systems beyond the grant implementation period, SolarWorks! will cover operational and maintenance costs of the solar energy systems for five years.
Zuwa Energy will install solar energy solutions in nine health facilities in Malawi. Electricity access will enable the facilities to provide higher-quality health services throughout the day and more comprehensive services at night. Additionally, it will electrify staff housing with the aim to increase staff wellbeing and retention rates.
Aduragbemi Omiyale