Solar Energy to help healthcare facility deliver essential services in Nanyuki

A Nanyuki-based private hospital has moved to tame monthly energy costs after installing an 80 kWp capacity solar panel that will see it save up to Sh220, 000.

Dr. Anup Das, the Chief Executive Officer, Nanyuki Cottage Hospital said the recent installation of the photovoltaic (PV) grid-tied system will end the facility’s long term erratic energy challenges that have resulted in below capacity performance.

The system, currently under deployment by Distributed Power Africa (DPA), Das said is tailored to the hospital’s energy needs and designed to increase efficiencies.

“This will see the facility save 30-40 percent of our monthly electricity cost of approximately Sh550, 000,” he stated in a media release.

He believes the installation will also reduce maintenance costs of most of the hospital equipment affected by erratic power fluctuation.

“Most medical machines that are dependent on electricity are life-saving; their interruption for just a few minutes may mean the loss of life,” he pointed out.

The hospital serves patients from the Mount Kenya region specifically from counties of Laikipia; Nyeri, Meru, and Embu. By extension the facility also gets patients from as far as Isiolo, Marsabit and Turkana.

“One of our challenges has been ensuring reliable continuous day power; fluctuations, and peace of mind for our operations. We believe this solar system is a great first step towards this,” he observed.

For domestic power users, when there's an outage, they think of the fridge, TV and other appliances. However, in hospitals there is a lot of equipment and procedures that are affected by erratic power supply.

“When we made this decision we considered our patients and staff, especially those in Theatre, ICU, Dialysis, ICT Servers and we saw the need to invest in Solar energy to ensure efficiency,” he said. The hospital has been in operation for the last 100 years in Mount Kenya Region with a rich medical history. It is known for caring for the elderly, and for offering high quality healthcare at affordable prices.

“Solar energy is in line with our transformation to adopt modern healthcare technologies and software geared towards better healthcare provision. We are focusing on sustainable solutions starting with green energy to pioneer development in health care services across Kenya,” He added.