Solar Project Saves Lives

Phase 1 of our solar project continues to successfully supply power to the main hospital building at the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) Mwandi Mission. Since the system was installed, 76% of the power it produced has been directly used by the hospital and 24% has gone to storage in solar batteries. In the last year, solar power produced 13201.43 kWH and was consumed by the main hospital building. Graphs of the 2020 solar power usage (to date) are attached with this report.

Moving to Phase 2 of the solar project was delayed until a master plan for the entire hospital compound was completed and approved by the American Partners, the hospital’s local board, and UCZ. The master plan was completed in the last month and has been approved by the local board. The architect, Paul Ndhlovu, and the American Partners’ project director, Lawrence Kamba, will present the plan to the American Partners at our November 14^th board of directors meeting. UCZ will also be reviewing the plan in the near future. The American Partners are excited about fund-raising to help complete this master plan. While it will take a number of years to achieve all of the goals of the plan, we are pleased that solar power will be incorporated throughout all facilities. By engaging in a stepwise progression to build-out the master plan, we hope to eventually achieve complete independence from Zambia’s national electric company, ZESCO. As soon as all constituents approve the master plan, the American Partners are ready to start Phase 2 of the solar project. A 3-D illustration of the proposed hospital complex is attached to this report. The new construction is shown in red.

We thank you for your continued support of “Solar Project Saves Lives.” We are excited to announce that we will participate in GlobalGiving’s “Move A Million” campaign on Giving Tuesday, December 1, 2020. With $1 million USD in funding available from @GlobalGiving, there’s never been a better time to support “Solar Project Saves Lives.” Even better, the more you give, the more we get! It’s almost time to #MoveAMillion! Look for emails from the American Partners’ board members to give you more details on the “Move a Million” campaign. This opportunity allows us to benefit even more from your generosity. Thanks in advance for helping us on Giving Tuesday!!

In May 2020, the Mwandi hospital was designated as the COVID-19 Center for its district in Zambia. The added costs of care for each COVID-19 patient is projected to be 80% over the hospital's current costs for non-COVID patients. These increased costs cannot be absorbed by the hospital’s operating budget for a number of reasons, including the fact that the national electric company, ZESCO, raised the costs of its power by 100% earlier this year. 

In the last two years, Phase 1 of our solar project reduced the hospital's use of ZESCO power in its main building by 16,716.28 kWH (a 70% decrease compared to usage before Phase 1). However, the cost savings accomplished by the reduction in this one building will be minimized by the 100% increase in charges for the ZESCO power utilized by the hospital's other buildings. In addition, monthly operating grants given by the Zambian government to hospitals around the country, including Mwandi, are increasingly unreliable. Moving forward with Phase 2 of our solar project is becoming more and more urgent!!

We are in the process of completing a comprehensive master plan for the entire hospital compound. In addition to expanding hospital wards and other facilities to serve the growing number of patients, the plan includes provision of solar power for all new and existing areas within the facility. We hope to move forward quickly with Phase 2 of the solar project as soon as the master plan is approved.

As always, we appreciate your support of our solar project. We hope that you will continue to help us increase the hospital's solar capabilities so that the healthcare needs in this community will be met.