Healthcare

Renewable Energy Solutions for Healthcare Facilities

International Conference on Renewable Energy for Healthcare

Singapore

02 November 2018

About

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) organised the international conference on Renewable Energy Solutions for Healthcare Facilities in Singapore on 2 November 2018 immediately after the 4th International Off-Grid Renewable Energy Conference and Exhibition (IOREC). It is estimated that over a billion people rely on healthcare facilities without access to adequate electricity supply. While most large hospitals have round-the-clock access to power, electrification rates drop dramatically for rural clinics. In the absence of reliable power, many of the basic life-saving interventions cannot be undertaken safely or at all.

In this context, off-grid renewable energy solutions present a key opportunity to provide clean, reliable and cost-effective electricity to rural health centers, which can dramatically transform the quality of healthcare services provided to rural communities. In particular, the dramatic cost reductions and technological improvement of renewable energy technologies in the past decade make renewables an economically and technically viable solution that can be rapidly deployed.

Several successful examples of renewable-based systems powering rural health clinics have already had a broad transformative impact on the quality of life of rural communities. However, a more widespread deployment of off-grid solutions for health centers is often hampered by institutional barriers and gaps of policy and financial nature.

Harnessing the enormous potential of renewable energy to improve energy access for rural healthcare facilities requires a combined action from the health and energy sectors. To this end, the international conference on Renewable Energy Solutions for Healthcare Facilities brought together key energy and health sector stakeholders, including policy-makers, practitioners, financial institutions, development partners, and NGOs that can play a role in enhancing electricity access for rural healthcare facilities in low-income areas. The conference was a unique opportunity to discuss challenges to the deployment of renewables for health centers, present successful case studies and identify technical, regulatory, policy, and financial options which can accelerate the deployment of renewable energy to the benefit of poor rural communities.