MOZAMBIQUE – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which leads the Power Africa initiative, is providing SolarWorks! Mozambique a US$320,000 grant to install solar photovoltaic systems in 92 health centres in the Mozambican province of Sofala.
In all the clinics selected to benefit from this Power Africa grant, the solar energy provider will install 55.2 kWp of capacity.
According to Power Africa, this electricity will be used for lighting, charging mobile phones, powering hoovers, gynaecological examination lights, microscopes, and computer equipment.
SolarWorks! will also install battery storage systems with a total capacity of 220.8 kWh.
“This means, for example, that if a woman goes into labour at night, the doctor attending her will have the light and equipment to help her give birth safely. Powering laptops, printers and the Internet will also make it easier to collect and share medical data,” said the US Embassy in Maputo.
According to the same source, effective health services and responses to diseases, including Covid-19, depend on reliable access to electricity.
Health care facilities need it to power essential medical and sterilisation equipment, refrigerate medicines and vaccines, coordinate care and share information with other health professionals.
In Sofala province, 90% of health centres do not have regular access to electricity and the solar energy will directly benefit 138,000 people served by the 92 clinics.
The installation of its solar energy systems is part of Power Africa, an initiative launched in 2013 by the Obama administration aims to fund 30,000 MW of installed capacity to provide access to electricity for more than 60 million Africans by 2030.
To date, Power Africa has financed 12,000 MW of installed capacity, providing electricity to 20 million people, according to its manager USAID.
In 2020, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) selected nine solar off-grid providers to receive a US$2.6 million grant to electrify clinics via off-grid, among them was SolarWorks!.
The companies in nine African countries will use the funding to provide electricity to health care facilities. This is the case of OffGridBox, was selected to provide electricity via its containerized solution to six rural clinics in Rwanda to implement a pay-as-you-go business model, selling electricity and drinking water to surrounding communities.
Ghana was one of the largest recipients of the USAID grant and thanks to PEG Solar, 91 health centres will be electrified throughout the country.
Nanoé electrified 35 rural health centres in the Ambanja and Ambilobe districts of Madagascar and the company was to deploy mini grids with health facilities as anchors and connections to staff housing.
In a partnership with the Church Health Association of Zambia, off-grid provider Muhanya Solar committed to electrify seven health centres and staff housing in rural Zambia.
In Malawi, Zuwa Energy would install off-grid solar systems to provide electricity to nine clinics and OnePower was selected to electrify seven health centres in Lesotho.
KYA-Energie would electrify 20 health centres in Togo while in Nigeria, 21 rural health facilities in Oyo State were electrified by Havenhill Synergy, a company based in Abuja.
