Most medical machines that are dependent on electricity are life-saving, their interruption
for just a few minutes may mean the loss of life. Amid erratic power supply within semi-
urban areas critical services in the health sector and hospitals continue to seek solutions
towards efficiency.
This has led Nanyuki Cottage Hospital (NCH) to take a bold step to ensure reliable power
supply and a reduction in their operational costs by partnering with Distributed Power Africa
(DPA) on the rollout of a solar power solution at their hospital in Nanyuki.
“One of our challenges has been ensuring reliable continuous day power, no power
fluctuations, and peace of mind for our operations. We believe this solar system is a great
first step towards this” commented Dr. Anup Das, Chief Executive Officer Nanyuki Cottage
Hospital.
“ When you lose power supply at home you tend to think of the fridge, TV and other
appliances. In hospitals there is a lot of equipment and proceedures 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 efficieny.” He said
The multi-specialty Tertiary Care 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 lign with our transformation to adopt modern healthcare technologies
and software geared towards better healthcare provision. We are focussing on sustainable
solutions starting with green energy to pioneer development in health care services across
Kenya.” He added
The solution, currently under deployment by DPA is tailored to the hospital’s energy needs
and designed to increase efficiencies. It will be grid-tied with photovoltaic (PV) of 80 kWp
capacity, and mounted on the rooftop.
This will see the facility save 30-40% of their monthly electricity cost of approximately KES
550,000- this is through use of solar power and reduced maintenance costs of all major
hospital equipment affected by erractic power fluctuation.
The hospital sector, in operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, is one of the areas with
high energy consumption and NCH joins a growing list of companies, universities, factories
and hospitals in Kenya that have turned to solar PV grid-tied systems to supply power for
self consumption.
“Working with NCH is an exciting opportunity for DPA, as we can demonstrate once again
that solar power is a sustainable ‘green’ strategy that can definitely improve efficiencies”
said Moncef Mettiji DPA CEO for East & West Africa.
The hospital receives patients from the entire Mount Kenya Region specifically from
counties of Laikipia, Nyeri, Meru, Embu, Isiolo, Marsabit & Turkana.
