#SOLAR GRIDS IN INDIA INSTALL#
#SOLAR GRIDS IN INDIA FREE#

'If the hospital is saving on bills, the benefits will be for us too,' she said.As the demand and prices of electricity have kept on rising, the world looks at renewable energy sources for its power needs.

#SOLAR GRIDS IN INDIA FREE#

Shireen Fatima, who was four months pregnant and visiting the Zaheerabad health care center for a checkup, said she appreciates how 'blood tests, tablets, everything is free here.' The hospital's shift to solar energy is 'definitely good,' she added. Selco is also working with the International Renewable Energy Agency and World Health Organization in Africa to scale up decentralized solar for health facilities on that continent. Ikea has committed $48 million to the project. Recently, Selco, Swedish furniture company Ikea and the Indian health ministry announced that they will set up solar power for 25,000 government health care facilities across 12 Indian states by 2026.

'Before solar, people were apprehensive to visit these hospitals because of power shortages and they didn't have faith in the treatment they might get,' Channadaser said. The addition of solar to health care centers in remote regions has been especially important for villagers who don't have the time or money to visit hospitals in the city, and likely would have simply gone without health care, said Hanumantappa Channadaser, Selco's branch manager in Raichur. That's a big benefit in a country that is among the lowest spenders on health care in the world - India spends just a little more than 2% of its national budget on health care, compared to the United States' 18% - and many hospitals and health clinics are cash-strapped. Kavyashree Sugur said the public health center she oversees has paid at least 50% less for electricity in the two years since installing solar panels. In nearby Zaheerabad, a low-income neighborhood, Dr. But India has also constantly reiterated the importance of getting money from developed countries and multilateral development banks to help achieve its climate goals.īesides providing uninterrupted power, the rooftop solar is helping the medical facilities cut costs. Supply chain issues and taxes on imported components - intended to protect domestic makers - have contributed to that shortfall. India has currently only installed about one-fourth of the 40 gigawatts of rooftop solar that policymakers had planned to have by last year. Rapid increase in solar, especially rooftop solar, will be necessary to meet that goal.

While India currently relies heavily on coal for its electricity, it has a target of installing 450 gigawatts of renewable energy that should account for about half its needs by the end of this decade. And that fits broader goals in India, the world's most populous nation and the third-largest emitter of planet-warming gases.

Shifting the hospitals and clinics to clean energy helps cut emissions in a sector that accounts for about 4.4% of the global figure, according to a study by Health Care Without Harm, an international nonprofit that advocates to reduce that. 'We would be paying 30,000 rupees ($367) if I wanted to deliver my baby at a private hospital,' said Sandhya Shivappa, a 25-year-old who had just delivered a healthy baby girl when a reporter visited. Some of Government Maternity's patients, like 25-year-old Sandhya Shivappa, said they knew little or nothing about the hospital's use of solar power and were simply grateful for its free services. The sites remain connected to the power grid, but only as a backup to the solar. Smaller clinics run closer to about $2,000.

#SOLAR GRIDS IN INDIA INSTALL#

It costs about $8,500 to install a system at public health care centers, including lead-acid batteries that store power for use at night. The Bengaluru-based not-for-profit has raised funds from Indian and international corporations and coordinated with the local government since 2017. The hospital, Government Maternity, a bare-bones facility that serves thousands who can't afford private health care, is one of 251 medical facilities in the Raichur district that runs on rooftop solar under a program spearheaded by Selco Foundation.

Solar grids in india