Cape Town - The national Health Department has appointed the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSRI) to conduct a due diligence on the roll-out of solar energy to all health facilities across the country.
“The proposed solar energy programme is going to cover the roll-out of the solar energy and battery storage as back-up supply to all the clinics, community heath centres, hospitals, emergency medical centres and the forensic laboratories.
“The objective of the exercise by CSIR is to identify the required critical consumption for critical areas of each health facility so that the department can be able to compile a comprehensive business case that will assist the department in justifying for the required budget,” Health Minister Joe Phaahla said.
Phaahla was responding to Freedom Front Plus MP Philip van Staden when he requested details about the the proposed solar energy roll-out programme.
Phaahla said CSRI will identify critical areas within a “health facility” that required a back-up service from the solar energy.
“CSIR is going to quantify the required size of solar energy for those critical areas.”
Phaala also said the council would consider different kits of inverters with batteries for the clinics and community health centres.
“Unlike solar panels, these kits are not easy to steal. They can be stored in a lockable room with burglar bars and with strict access control.”
The minister added that the CSRI study would also map out the roll-out implementation programme for the required solar energy solution for each health facility.
“The study will also identify areas that can be funded by other donors like USAID, including others that are interested to partner with the National Department of Health,” he said.
Phaahla said the due diligence study by CSRI was expected to be completed at the end of April 2023.
“The expected start date of the roll-out of the solar energy programme is June 2023 depending on the availability of funding from the national state of disaster centre.
“The envisaged completion date is going to be informed by the detailed analysis by CSIR,” he said.
Last week, the Cape Times reported that the department was seeking additional funding to keep the lights switched on at health facilities as more institutions were yet to be exempted from load shedding.
Phaahla was quoted as saying the additional funding was sought for fuel, oil and the servicing of generators.
He also said his department was seeking additional funding support for the roll-out of the solar energy and battery storage as back-up supply to all the clinics, community healthcare centres, hospitals, EMS centres, including the forensic laboratories.
The department provided Eskom with a total of 213 hospitals to be considered for possible exclusion from load shedding.
Only 76 hospitals have been exempted - 26 are directly supplied by Eskom and 50 by municipalities.
Cape Times