Tesla Powerpacks Will Help A Hospital In Haiti Serve Its Patients
Tesla Powerpacks will be used in a hospital in Haiti to provide reliable and renewable energy, Tesmanian reports. World Hope International, working with the Wesleyan Mission in Haiti, aims to make a critical hospital more reliable and sustainable. The Powerpacks will become part of a large solar power system on the island of La Gonâve.
Our Haiti team does it again! Yesterday we transported new @tesla Powerpacks & a generator to the island of La Gonâve via barge! The equipment will make up the @worldhopeorg Wesleyan Hospital solar system, ensuring that the facility has access to reliable & sustainable power! pic.twitter.com/mStWSTLnzL
— Build Health International (@BuildHealthIntl) May 25, 2021
Build Health International shared that they transported new Tesla Powerpacks along with a generator to the island on a barge and noted that the equipment will support the World Hope Organization’s Wesleyan Hospital solar system and ensure that the facility has access to reliable and sustainable power.
Tesmanian also shared a bit of the hospital’s history. After the deadly 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti and killed around 250,000 people in 2010, the new LaGonâve Wesleyan Hospital was built. The hospital was also the recipient of a generous donation of a solar system array with an energy storage system.
However, after 10 years of operation in the Caribbean climate, a recent assessment discovered that it needed some repair and the batteries were running at less than half capacity. Engineers recommended repairing and modernizing the control system, which led to a doubling of the number of solar panels. Also, the old lead-acid batteries were replaced with Tesla Powerpacks. These are much more efficient, work better in hot and humid climates, and reduce the hospital’s carbon footprint to almost zero.
World Hope Hospital also shared a statement about the improvements.
“These improvements will enable the hospital to finally achieve energy independence for at least the next 10 years and, with the generator (currently operating at least 50% of every day when fuel is available) being relegated to actual emergency-use only, the carbon footprint of the hospital will be virtually eliminated.
“The 100,000 people who live on the island have no other access to the kind of medical resources the hospital provides. They would have to take a 12 mile trip across the sea in unsafe boats followed by at least 2 hours overland by bus or taxi (if affordable) to a hospital that may or may not receive them—and that’s if they were able to pay to get off the island in the first place. LaGonâve Wesleyan Hospital never turns anyone away – but it is only as effective as the power that it runs on.
“The hospital continues to provide life-saving medical care to the inhabitants of LaGonâve every day and many children take their first breath there.”
World Hope Hospital is a nonprofit organization and is currently fundraising to cover the cost of upgrading the Hospital Wesleyan de la Gonâve. The project started in 2019 and has three goals:
- Repair and upgrade the hospital’s power control system.
- Double the number of solar panels.
- Change solar storage to Tesla wall units.
Although they have done all of these things, the project is currently accepting funding and donations for this project along with other projects such as a solar-powered water desalination and distribution center on La Gonâve where residents are often gathering water from garbage-filled ravines. The goals for this project are:
- To produce 20,000 gallons per day of clean water for tap and bottle.
- To provide locals with opportunities for entrepreneurship through micro-enterprise.
- To provide clean water for the nearby hospital and clinic.
- To reduce the amount of illness and mortality rates from water-borne diseases and contaminated water.
If you would like to donate, you can click here.
Featured image courtesy of Building Health International.
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