Red Cross support brings solar panels to hospital in Kyiv region

Photo: Red Cross website

Nina Voronets

The installation of solar panels for the Vyshniv city hospital in the Kyiv region has been completed. This medical facility serves a population of over 120,000 and numerous internally displaced persons residing in the area. With this new addition, the hospital can continue providing medical services to patients, even during power outages.

This is reported on the website of the Red Cross.

What is the problem?

The Ukrainian Red Cross implements many significant projects to support and restore critical infrastructure facilities in Ukraine, including supporting medical institutions.

^{Red Cross website}

General Director of the National Committee of the Red Cross Society of Ukraine Maksym Dotsenko notes:

"It is important for us that people have the opportunity to receive medical assistance promptly because this is a matter of saving people's lives."

What is the solution?

The project was successfully implemented thanks to the helpful collaboration between the Ukrainian Red Cross, the Estonian Red Cross, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, and the Kyiv Regional Military Administration.

^{Red Cross website}

The hospital has a 100-bed inpatient unit, a diagnostic department with computer tomography and a portable X-ray machine, and endoscopic and physiotherapy rooms. Therefore, it is essential during the war to promptly ensure the hospital's power supply's autonomy, taking into account possible power outages.

^{Red Cross website}

"The solar plant works and generates electricity regardless of the state of the centralized power supply. It also makes it possible to continuously and safely provide medical care to the institution's patients. When designing this station, our facility's capacity was considered. On a sunny day, this is 100% coverage of the institution's needs. In the autumn-winter period, we will be able to provide electricity for up to 30% of our needs, namely the department where the most serious patients are located," emphasized Nataliia Skryhina, director of the Vyshneve City Hospital CNE.

How does it work?

The solar panels were installed using the ballast method without changing the roof structure. One hundred eighty-two photovoltaic elements, with a total capacity of up to 100 kW during the day, fully cover the hospital's electricity needs, and the battery units are simultaneously charged in case of an emergency shutdown. Autonomously, the health care facility can work from 3 to 7 hours on a battery charge, depending on the load. The system was tested and put into operation.

The total cost of the project is about 4.5 million hryvnias.

^{Red Cross website}