	Tadworth and Walton Overseas Aid Trust
PROJECT REPORT
Organisation:	Berega Hospital, Tanzania
Project:	Solar Lighting

Completion of Solar Lighting Project at Berega Hospital, Tanzania

Project Objectives

The specific aims of the project were listed in the proposal as follows:

§ To provide adequate solar lighting and power to the laboratory.

§ To provide solar lighting to the children’s ward, maternity ward, labour rooms and operating theatre.

Achievement of Objectives

We are delighted to inform you that we have now completed the project and have been able to achieve all the above aims plus significantly more than was originally planned.

The laboratory has now a reliable electrical supply supplied by the solar panel and battery system. The wards mentioned above have electric lights available throughout the night and do not need kerosene storm lamps once the generator is switched off.

As well as power supply problems, the hospital had a major water supply problem which frequently meant that there was no water at all in key areas of the hospital such as the operating theatre, laundry and wards. The hospital has no mains water supply and was serviced by a borehole with an inadequate and outdated storage and distribution system. The situation was further compounded by the borehole not being able to supply sufficient water in the four hours daily that the generator powered the pump.

We have recently completed the renovation and improvement of the water distribution and storage system, however without additional pumping time the amount of water available to supply the hospital and staff housing was not increased. The water engineer managing this project advised us to install a solar powered pumping system.

Work Undertaken

By linking the needs of the water project with the solar project we were able to install significantly more solar power equipment than first envisaged by either the solar lighting or the water project:

§ The whole hospital now has 240v electricity throughout the night (not only the areas specified in the proposal) supplied by the solar battery system.

§ 240v electricity is now available in selected areas during daylight hours (the administration block, laboratory, operating theatre, infusion unit and delivery rooms).

§ The electric borehole pump is now powered for an extra eight hours a day using the solar system enabling an adequate supply of water not only to the hospital and staff housing, but also to the orphanage and training centre as well.

Instead of purchasing 14 solar panels and 5 batteries, we purchased 36 solar panels, 16 batteries and connected them to a large inverter, which gives adequate power to achieve the objectives of both projects.

As the system has 240v AC system we were able to connect directly to the existing 240v system previously powered only by the generator for four hours per night. We therefore only needed to make minor modifications to meet our needs. For example, we changed high wattage fittings for low wattage fittings, and modified some circuits (such as the autoclave) which still can only be run on the large generator due to their high load. We also isolated some circuits in order to increase control of the electrical system.

Benefits Realised

Installation was finally completed in April 2006. Already in that time we have seen the following benefits:

§ Adequate lighting throughout the night for all working areas of the hospital. Improved lighting at night has led to better working conditions for staff, improved care for patients, as well as increased security for the hospital.

§ Provision of increased pumping time making water available 24 hours a day in all areas of the hospital.

§ The significant reduction of use of kerosene, reducing both fire risk and running costs for the hospital.

§ On days when the autoclave is not being used we are able to reduce the running hours the main generator resulting in significant savings in diesel expenditure.

§ Some operations are now undertaken using power supplied by the solar system, reducing diesel expenditure and noise from the generator.

§ As some of the old solar systems which were in use in some areas of the hospital are now no longer needed we are able to remove them and reinstall them in staff housing, improving conditions and reducing living costs for those living in these houses.

SOLAR PROJECT INCOME/EXPENDITURE SUMMARY

Expenditure	Tshs
32 x Solar Panels	15,575,000
2 x 40A charge controllers	481,250
4.5 KVA 48v/240v Inverter	4,100,000
16 x 100 Ah Batteries	1,946,800
Installation	996,000
Borehole Pump modification US$ 2743.03	3,292,836
TOTAL	23,099,050

Income
TWOAT / The funding network £5000.00	10,100,000
ORAF Water project	12,999,050
TOTAL	23,099,050

The hospital contributed labour and material costs for all rewiring and other modifications of the existing hospital electrical system.

Conclusion

The financial contribution from TWOAT/The Funding Network, combined with water project funding, has enabled us to achieve far more than we envisaged from either project alone. We now have an electrical system that enables us to function almost as if we had mains electricity, but with much reduced running costs. The improvements to staff working conditions and patient care are highly appreciated.