An Innovative Renewable Generation System with Battery for Wolisso Hospital

Electrical blackouts are very common in Ethiopia. The reliability of the urban electrical grid decreases gradually with distance from the main roads, so the buildings located in the more remote areas of the country are forced to deal with constant power interruptions. This happens at the St. Luke Hospital in Wolisso, built and opened in 2000 by the Italian NGO “Doctors with Africa CUAMM”, which works in the building to give support to healthcare management and clinical activities of the staff serving about 430,000 people. Each year, there are about 93,000 outpatient visits, 11,500 admissions and almost 3,300 assisted births, 40% of which are complicated deliveries. We are in the area of South West Shoa, within the borders of the regional state of Oromya, where about 26 million people live. The hospital is located near a small city of roughly 50,000 inhabitants that covers a zone of 3-4 kilometres electrified along the main road, but the current is weak and is constantly interrupted. In the case of a blackout, two 100-KW diesel generators are used, and yet the frequency of the lack of current can even be for several hours a day, with voltage surges that cause damage to the healthcare equipment. A situation that is no longer sustainable and that we decided to resolve once and for all. "In collaboration with Doctors with Africa CUAMM, we’ve launched a sustainable and innovative project which will include the donation of a solar plant with battery to Wolisso Hospital." No more power outages The initiative will result in a reduction of purchasing costs of electricity for the hospital, covering a significant portion of their needs through the use of energy produced by renewable sources and resolving the problems linked to grid reliability. The installation of the system is planned for 2018 and everyone will benefit, from the staff to the patients of the facility. "At the Wolisso Hospital, we are installing an innovative photovoltaic plant and a battery storage system, making it possible to manage energy flows in real time to ensure continuity of electricity supply while using diesel generators as little as possible, with environmental benefits and cost benefits for the hospital." Giovanni Tula, Head of Innovation and Sustainability for Enel Green Power The CEO of Enel Green Power and President of RES4Africa, Antonio Cammisecra, visited Wolisso Hospital with the General Director of Doctors with Africa CUAMM, Don Dante Carraro, before speaking at the RES4Africa Conference entitled “Fostering the deployment of Renewable Energy in Ethiopia: a Sustainable Roadmap”, held in Addis Ababa on 3 and 4 October. The initiative at Wolisso Hospital is a concrete example of a sustainable and successful project that demonstrates Enel Green Power’s commitment to Africa, where it is currently the largest private operator in the renewables sector in terms of MW installed. The project is also an example of the integration of sustainability and innovation. "Its intrinsic characteristics of innovation and sustainability, make the project fit into our so-called Innovability Projects, a neologism coined by Enel to illustrate the value of the integration of Innovation and Sustainability." Giovanni Tula Spreading the culture of sustainability Sustainability is the key to EGP’s business model and is applied in a real way to all our activities around the world. In Africa, we’ve launched many sustainability projects, some of which are unique, like the EGP Academy in South Africa where we have an educational programme dedicated to young people and the unemployed. We teach them how solar photovoltaic power works, the installation of PV panels on roofs, the reuse of waste for lighting and the implementation of solar mini-grids to improve access to electricity in schools and hospitals. With the intent of promoting social and economic development, another one of our projects has involved a collaboration with a group committed to preventing the transmission of the HIV virus from mother to child during pregnancy. "The initiative “Mothers 2 Mothers” sponsored the training of 12 “mentor mothers” in the province of Limpopo, and the creation of 12 jobs, to help doctors and nurses promote healthy and safe behaviours during pregnancy." In Midelt, Morocco, we are working with local associations to train unqualified workers in activities to be performed at the Midelt wind farm. This project directly involves the community in the supply chain and promotes local entrepreneurship, allowing SMEs to provide services linked to plant activities like, for example, laundry service, food service and plumbing. We’ve also launched specific projects aimed at permanent education and training. These initiatives include the creation of scholarships that can allow good students from disadvantaged communities to access higher education, enhancing the human capital of the area.

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An Innovative Renewable Generation System with Battery for Wolisso Hospital

An Innovative Renewable Generation System with Battery for Wolisso Hospital