Seven primary health care clinics in Lesotho, a high-altitude, landlocked kingdom encircled by South Africa in the Southern Africa region, are each set to be equipped with a containerized mini-solar grid. The contract for the installation of the solar facilities has been awarded to Sustain Solar, a Cape Town-based manufacturer of containerized, rapid deployment off-grid solar systems, by OnePower Lesotho (1PWR), a mini-grid developer working in Lesotho with the mission to bring electricity to underserved communities.
As per the contract, SustainSolar will supply and install its Sustain Compact™ solution. This is a 20-foot container equipped with leading high-performance solar modules, Solar MD battery modules, SMA inverters, and a lightweight mounting structure. The Sustain Compact solution has an initial PV capacity of 20 kWp and a storage capacity of 51 kWh and can be expanded to more than double its initial size as electricity demand increases.
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In addition to powering the health facilities, the mini-grids will supply electricity to a number of connections including five health center staff houses at each site.
Project under Power Africa’s “Beyond the Grid” initiative
The above-mentioned project will be implemented under the Power Africa’s “Beyond the Grid” initiative with which the five-year American presidential initiative launched by President Barack Obama in Tanzania during his Africa Tour in July 2013, aims to double access to electricity by enabling 60 million new electricity connections for homes and businesses in sub-Saharan Africa.
Besides Lesotho, several other African countries will benefit from Power Africa’s “Beyond the Grid” initiative, including Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia.
