In June 2020, Green Energy for All won a call for proposals by the Nexans Foundation for a total amount of € 15,000. The project aimed to connect six hospitals in the town of Beni to the power grid. This project was implemented in the summer of 2020 in partnership with Energie du Nord Kivu, a Congolese hydro-electric power plant which provided the workforce and supervised the logistics locally.

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Beni is a town in North Kivu of about 500,000 inhabitants who, until 2019, had no access to electricity. Located at the heart of a conflict area, the lack of access to electricity is a real obstacle to the easing of civil and political tensions and to the socio-economic development of the region.

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In July 2020, the beneficiaries of the project had demonstrated the increasing need for electricity in their hospitals. The lack of electricity affected medical staff and patients but also, more generally, the entire operation of the hospitals. The greatest challenge faced by doctors was the storage of drugs in refrigerators that rely on electricity, a commodity which had so far been scarce and unreliable. The lack of light at night also strongly affected their working conditions and the quality of care provided.

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The project started on the ground in August 2020. In less than two months, over XX km of electric cables were deployed across Beni and six hospitals were connected to the local power grid.

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Since then, the beneficiary hospitals have made sizeable costs savings. With an average consumption of 800 liters of fuel per month, each hospital used to spend USD 1,040 for energy monthly. Thanks to their connection to the power grid, hospitals now make up to 60% of savings on their energy bills. “Thanks to these savings”, they say, “we can reallocate our budget to more pressing needs, such as medical equipment and improved treatments for our patients.”

 

The connection to the power grid doesn’t only bring financial advantages to its beneficiaries. By replacing the use of polluting fossil fuels with a green and renewable energy, it also increases the wellbeing of the local population and contributes to the fight against climate change.