A Humanitarian Partnership
Why Solar?
When you think about electricity supply in the Congo, don't imagine that it is anything like what you might expect in a developed country. The vaste majority of people simply have no access to electricity, and those that do only have a supply sporadically.
One of the most pressing needs in the DRC is functional Hospitals. While Katanga Province has a number of small hospitals in strategic rural areas, almost all of them lack a reliable electricity supply. Most rely on diesel generators, which are not run often due to the cost of diesel.
A solar system ordinarily consists of a PV system (Solar Panels) and intelligent management to ensure that the amount of solar energy fed into the system exactly matches the demand at that time. The main advantage of solar for DRC rural hospitals is the fact that once installed, there are no further running costs. There are maintenance tasks to be done, but these are minimal and can be done by locals.
In contrast to power supply systems using diesel generators and despite their higher initial cost, solar systems have very low operating costs. In addition, solar systems are flexible and can be expanded on a modular basis as the energy demand grows. Solar systems can also incorporate other power generating sources if available, such as wind and hydro power. Battery systems can also be added to the solar panel system in order to allow excess power to be stored for use during the night.
While it would be nice to add full battery capacity "up front," there are good reasons to make more panels the main priority. Firstly, solar battery installations are far more expensive to install maintain than batteries. Secondly, most medical work requiring significant power is done during daylight hours. The exception to this is in a area of maternity—babies come when they want!
As donations come forward and the cost of battery technology becomes more affordable, such units will indeed become the norm, especially in hospitals, where human lives are at stake.
Lubumbashi Hospital Solar Power Success 2018!
Our third project was completed at Papillon Hospital and the CDLA Headquarters in Lubumbashi. The Papillon project cost around US$5,000, and provides power for lighting to the entire facility, as well as power for use in the maternity delivery and surgical rooms. The CDLA Headquarters project cost around the same, and provides stabilised power for the offices and on-site X-Ray machine.
Papillon Hospital already had mains power, but only on random days and at random times. The new system tops up reserve battery levels when mains power is available, and also charges these same batteries via Solar Panels when mains are absent. We installed 6 x 300W 24V panels on the roof of the main building, right above a spare room that was available to securely house the control equipment. We installed a 3kW controller/inverter system in this block, along with a 48V 150Ah battery bank to store reserve power. In addition to this, we upgraded the main entry point for power into the facility, installing a motorised switch to swap between mains power and generator in the event that both mains and solar went down at the same time.
The Control Room
The hospital was visited and photographed, then time was spent considering the best way of ensuring 100% power stability for the critical parts of the facility. After much searching and comparison of available product options, we chose Victron equipment for this install due to its reliability.
The Victron MultiPlus 3k 230V uses an integrated inverter to provide the necessary power to light the entire hospital, and still leave enough to power low power equipment in the laboratory and surgical rooms. The unit can also pass through mains power, when available, to both run the facility and charge the battery bank. With mains power normally on for an hour or two a day, we only needed to install 1800W of solar panel capacity on the roof for this system to cover extended mains outages.
The Impact
The system is designed primarily for heavy daylight use, since this is the reality of the hospital workload. We did install enough batteries to ensure the entire facility has reliable all-night lighting available.
In order to cut down on power consumption, we replaced all fluorescent lighting in the hospital with LED lighting. A major lighting upgrade in the maternity delivery room and surgical room means the days of operating by cellphone lights are gone! Dr Serge, who does a number of operations at this hospital, was delighted, knowing he would no longer have to endure the continual "lights out surprises" half way through operations that had previously plagued this facility.
The End Results at Papillon
CDLA Headquarters Project Detail
From this . . .
To this . . .
. . . so this incredible equipment can be used!
Stabilised Power with Battery Backup
The offices of CDLA (the NGO we work with on the ground in DR Congo) received a major upgrade this year as well. The situation at the main house where all administration is done was very basic, electrically speaking. The gift of a state-of-the-art X-Ray machine from a generous donor in Ireland, complete with its own lined container, prompted this upgrade.
With stabilised, reliable power, the unit can now provide affordable imaging to thousands of people in the city.
Like the Papillon project, we used Victron equipment as the hub of the new supply. The good thing about the CDLA site was that power was a little more reliable than Papillon, meaning we did not have to install solar panels. This will change in 2022, however, as power supply in this city of 3-5 million people is increasingly sporadic.
A 48v 300Ah battery bank was installed, along with auto-mains-switching technology to ensure split-second switching of power to the imaging equipment and office computers.
Mulongo Hospital Leap Forward in Electrical Capability 2017!
Our second project has just been completed at Mulongo Hospital on Lake Kabamba. Costing just over US$10,000, we installed 5kW of solar power in three strategic locations within the hospital complex. The system provides 3.2kW of 230V AC to 2 Surgery units, 1kW to a maternity unit, and another 1kW to paediatrics, internal medicine and a lab (for a complete detailed list of costings Click Here). All systems can also be switched to a generator source in the event of system failure or if a short-term boost in power is needed to drive a heavy current device.
With this one installation, tens of thousands of people will be able to receive hospital care over the coming years that would otherwise simply not be possible. Reliable electricity in a hospital allows for the installation of: ultrasound equipment, general anaesthetics equipment, surgical suction equipment, cauterising scalpels, diagnostics laboratory equipment, computer technology, reliable communications, and refrigeration.
Project Detail
We worked hard to get the best value for money and settled on working closely with a solar supplier in Lubumbashi, Dev Solaire. Divesh was very helpful in coming up with equipment to suit our needs, and we hope this partnership will develop in the years to come.
We installed 9 x 300W 24V panels on the surgical block, another 4 x 200W on the maternity block, and consolidated older existing panels to supply power to paediatrics, internal medicine and the lab. The surgical block was primary in terms of power allocation, since this is where power was most desperately needed. We installed a 3.2kW controller/inverter system in this block, along with a 48V 200Ah battery bank to store reserve power.
The Control Room
One of the things we quickly learned in the DR Congo is that you work with what you have available! After much searching and comparison of available products, we chose ProVista equipment for this install due to pricing and technological capability.
The Provista PV3200 uses MPPT controllers due to their inherently better power conversion characteristics, and uses an integrated inverter to provide the necessary power to the 2 surgical rooms in the ward.
We also installed lightening protection on both the DC and AC sides of the system due to the wet season storms that regularly pass through the area.
The Impact
The system is designed primarily for heavy daylight use, since this is the reality of the hospital workload. We did install enough batteries to ensure the surgical ward has all-night lighting available — something not previously possible.
In the surgeries themselves, we replaced high wattage florescent tube lighting with a dual system of AC LEDs and a DC LED backup system. This makes a huge difference in terms of available light in the operating environment! Each theatre now has 4 x 5W LEDs for general room lighting as well as 5 x 9W LEDs and an adjustable 20W, directional LED floodlight above the operating table. All this without running a generator (which the hospital can't afford to run anyway)!
The Big Picture
Mulongo Hospital is a critical site in the northern part of Katanga since it provides surgical training to recently graduated doctors and also has a nurse training programme running. Once doctors complete their surgical training here they are sent to more isolated positions in smaller clinics around the region.
Solar work done this year will allow the hospital to use essential electrical equipment in both theatres, as well as much needed lighting in maternity and paediatrics (we installed over 100 LED lights with this project). As it happened, the hospital was also donated a significant amount of medical equipment by an NGO at the very time our installation was completed, including new electric operating tables!
Further equipment, including diathermy and imaging devices are also on the way now that there is power available to run them.
Lwanza Hospital Solar 2016—DC to AC!
Our first project has just been completed at Lwanza Hospital on Lake Mwero. Costing around US$10,000, the installed 2.4kW system provides 230V AC to 2 Surgery units and a maternity unit (for a complete detailed list of costings Click Here). The complete system can also be switched to a generator source in the event of system failure or if a short-term boost in power is needed to drive a heavy current device.
With this one installation, thousands of people will be able to receive hospital care over the coming years that would otherwise simply not be possible. Reliable electricity in a hospital allows for the installation of: ultrasound equipment, general anaesthetics equipment, surgical suction equipment, cauterising scalpels, diagnostics laboratory equipment, computer technology, reliable communications, and refrigeration.
Project Detail
We worked hard to get the best value for money and settled on working closely with a solar supplier in Lubumbashi, Dev Solaire. Divesh was very helpful in coming up with equipment to suit our needs, and we hope this partnership will develop in the years to come.
We installed 12 x 200W 24V panels in an East-West array due to the orientation of the building we were housing the equipment in. Due to the fact that this installation in near the equator, the orientation of panels is not as critical as it might otherwise have been. We set out the panels in two arrays, each with their own MPPT controllers. Each array has 2 controllers in an effort to build in redundancy (and hence security of supply).z
The Control Room
One of the things we quickly learned in the DR Congo is that you work with what you have available! After much searching and comparison of available products, we chose ProVista equipment for this install due to pricing and technological capability.
Each panel's output was brought directly into the control room via relatively heavy 6mm twin core cabling. This will allow us to configure the panels going forward without the need to access wiring on the roof.
We used MPPT controllers due to their inherently better power conversion characteristics, and combined these with 3 x AC inverters in order to provide the necessary power to the 3 surgical rooms being targeted in this project.
The Impact
The system is designed primarily for heavy daylight use, since this is the reality of the hospital workload. We did install enough batteries to ensure the surgical and maternity wards have all-night lighting available — something not previously possible.
In the surguries themselves, we replaced very low wattage DC-compact-flouro lighting with a dual system of AC-based LEDs and a DC LED backup system. The "before and after" pics to the left show the difference this makes in terms of available light in the operating environment! Each theatre now has 2 x 9W LEDs for general room lighting and a 10W LED adjustable, directional floodlight directly above the operating table.
In addition to the lighting, each surgery now has at least 4 x 230V AC outlets capable of running an all-up load per room of 1.2kW. This means that the hospital will now be able to invest in much needed AC equipment like surgical suction devices, cauterizing scalpels and the like.
Recovery rooms also benefit from the system with the installation of low power LED lights capable of running 24 hours/day as needed.
