Hybrid Rooftop Solar system for PBF Memorial Clinic
The health Facility needs continuous intensive power for its unstoppable critical services. The power interrupted affect on clinical outcomes, care disruptions, and health data breaches. The damage to public health services and direct impact on citizens, especially in rural Ethiopia, is also widespread. The loss of electricity disables life-support systems, cold-chain need vaccines and medications, restricts the health data severe especially in Ethiopia.
PBF Memorial Clinic has started operating in January 2025. During this time the clinic experienced multi-day outages. Providing continuous health services was extremely difficult.
To counter prolonged outages, the clinic equipped with reliable backup Diesel generator to compensate the off-grid. It has become a preferred institution that provides quality and efficient service. However, due to the global oil crisis and the instability in the region, not only the cost, but also the possibility of availability diesel itself was highly scarce.
The PBF memorial clinic requires a permanent power supply of 10-12 Kilowatts especially on the day time running. It is not feasible to continue this desire with diesel for a prolonged time.
Therefore, for as a healthcare institution sustainable and viable operation, it is essential to install a hybrid solar system.
The project need implement 20 panels able to generate 40 Kilowatts set. This is huge renewable energy need investment of PBF for the quality and effective community health service. In this effort, PBF memorial clinic installed the needy power supply and now it is a leading health institution in providing uninterrupted health services commitment to the community in Lalibela.
These hybrid inverter solar systems have triple functions, the primary give power from the panels to service area directly, as the same time charging the solar batteries secondary and if the shortage happen with any reason, it can take generate from Elpa (Ethiopian electric utility power agency) on grid, this system still filling the battery and running power to the clinic as the same time from Elpa.
Now PBF memorial Clinic using the Hybrid solar system 24 hours from the Panels on day time and from its convert from the solar battery for the night. The grid is off since June 4, 2026 and only using the solar system for full operation.
The clinic now has excess solar energy generating on the day time and stored for using nighttime. This is not only assured the outage patient care, but also reduces reliance on diesel generator.
At this time, the clinic has significantly reduced 95% the electric bills cost, diesel costs are 100% zero, the impact of power outages on cold chain require refrigerating vaccines, medicines and the need of machines power capacity has been completely resolved. The clinic has now clean energy resource that does not contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. The PBF memorial clinic secured at least 25 years of free and reliable renewable energy.
Please click the YouTube link to see the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MlUV7QKyAw
We extended our deepest gratitude to PBF and its benefactress for making this affordable power supply a reality.
Abebe Zewdu for PBF memorial Clinic