By Morkporkpor Anku, GNA
Accra, July 17, GNA – The Management of
Foundation of Orthopedics and Complex Spine (FOCOS) Orthopedic Hospital has
installed a US$1.5 million solar plant – a move that is going to completely
take the facility off the national grid.
The plant, engineered and installed by
SunPower, comes with more than 2,400 solar panels and a megawatt hour (1MWH)
lithium-ion phosphate battery capacity system, making it the largest hospital
solar installation in Africa.
Professor Oheneba Boachie-Adjei, Founder and
President of the Hospital, said apart from helping to reduce its electricity
bill, there was the added high point of environmental-friendliness.
What this meant, was that in the long-term,
the facility would be able to offer services to more patients, he added.
“With the changes in the climate, it is time
we consider other sources of power which protect the environment, and solar is
the way to go. Looking at how much we will be saving financially, as a
non-profit hospital we could not have asked for a better option”.
He said their mission was to provide
comprehensive, affordable orthopedic care to those “who will not otherwise have
access to such treatment.
“The cases we treat are among some of the
most severe in the world—many that no other team of surgeons would dare touch.”
Mr. Ernest Amissah, Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of SunPower Innovations, said the panels would generate enough power
within the day to feed into the load directly, adding that, when there was no
sunshine at night, the battery-bank, would supply power back to the load.
“SunPower Innovations also introduced a
Seamless Transfer Switch (STS), which is able to switch between solar panels,
batteries, generators and the national grid and diesel-powered generator
seamlessly without the hospital experiencing power outages.”
He said with over 2,400 solar panels, the
FOCOS installation was bigger than that of a Haitian hospital, which has 1,800
solar panels.
“This is big and the impact is massive. We
are saving the hospital over 60 per cent of their current bills and on average,
the hospital’s demand stands at 330kva; but what we have installed is about
double what it consumes.”
He said the move was important because grid
reliance was dwindling globally as the focus was now on green renewable
generation.
Mr. Amissah gave the assurance that with the
installation of an STS the hospital would not experience any blackouts, saying,
even the national grid, was automatic and seamless.
FOCOS was now off-grid and would save a lot
of money; and for what they do, depending on donor funds for their work, the
more the savings the better they could transfer to patients.
The Foundation is a non-profit organization
that provides optimum orthopedic care and helping to improve the quality of
life of the people in Ghana and other countries.
GNA
