Skip to main content

Energy access for social institutions

Facts, challenges & objectives

Poor access to energy increases economic inequality for rural regions and hampers economic growth. Rural social institutions, such as health centres, schools, orphanages and vocational trainings centres, are particularly affected by energy access challenges.

The main issue is a lack of direct access to an electrical grid. Health centres need cold storage opportunities for medicines, lighting for treatments at night, and energy to keep medical equipment running. Training centres and schools have similar needs, with little to no lighting, cooling or electrical equipment able to run without electricity available.

The Green People’s Energy for Africa initiatve works specifically to provide decentralized renewable energy solutions to social institutions. Contributing to improving well-being in communities and increasing the local value creation.

The COVID 19 pandemic highlighted the need for power supply to rural health centres. In addition to supplying solar systems and equipment, there is also a need for long-term, partner-based approaches to infrastructure maintenance and financing.

Green People’s Energy for Africa works together with stakeholders in rural communities to secure long-term operation and sustainability of improved services based on access to renewable energy.

Articles featuring social infrastructure measures

NewsSDG 7

Solar clinics improve rural living conditions

|
After 3 years of GBE support in Ghana, over 90,000 people in rural areas now benefit from solar infrastructure.
ProfileSDG 4

An experimental science kit opens up the world of renewables to students

|
Renewable energies become subject matter in Rwanda, as proceeds from selling coffee are used to benefit schools in Ntarama.
ProfileSDG 3

Equipping school canteens and health centres with water pumps and solar-powered refrigerators

|
Renewable energy can greatly benefit social institutions, by powering refigeration or water access in medical centres and schools.
ProfileSDG 7

Refugee shelters need sustainable solar solutions 

|
Clean electricity for refugee families in Uganda Through approximately 330 savings communities in refugee shelters and host communities, ZOA aims to promote the market for sustainable solar solutions.
ProfileSDG 7

Electrifying San communities with solar energy  

|
Decentralised PV systems will improve the livelihoods of a nomadic San community and highlight the role of women in it.
StorySDG 3

Health centres sell ice cream and drinks thanks to solar electricity

|
Since October 2021, 15 health centres have been producing their own solar electricity. This allows them to supply patients around the clock. People also come by for another reason. Namely, at the centres, people can buy cold drinks and ice cream, charge their cell phones or borrow a solar lamp for a small fee. The r…
StorySDG 3

“The most important facility of the village is now electrified”

|
Cedikope with its 800 inhabitants is located on an island in the southern part of Lake Volta. It takes 30 minutes to get there by boat. Seth Mahu, the Director of Renewable Energy at the Ghanaian Ministry of Energy, travelled to the island anyway. There, Green People´s Energy (GBE) has electrified one of 31 health c…
ProfileSDG 3

Ensuring healthcare with solar power

|
Solar energy makes it possible: The large municipality of Boukombé, with its more than 80,000 inhabitants, is to receive modern and reliable healthcare.
ProfileSDG 3

Healthcare posts: producing electricity and chlorine with solar panels 

|
Solar panels provide power for medical equipment, computers and lights – in a pilot project, three health posts will now use the solar power also to produce chlorine at low cost.
ProfileSDG 5

Care centres to be electrified with solar power  

The decades-long war in Congo has brought much suffering. Some of the few centers that provide care to those affected now receive solar power so they can better provide aid.
ProfileSDG 4

Reliable solar power for an orphanage with vocational training centre     

|
Building solar power and training young people The Casa do Gaiato orphanage is tapping into an off-grid power supply with solar systems and at the same time training young people in solar technology and installation
ProfileSDG 3

Secure energy for health center through solar hybrid system 

|
The intelligent PV system makes hospital operating rooms safer
StorySDG 3

Solar power helping to improve medical services in rural clinics in Ghana

|
Working with remote districts in Ghana’s Afram Plains, Germany’s Green People’s Energy initiative has helped bring power to rural clinics. Disconnected from the grid, these clinics could only provide services by day and were also limited in the type of medical equipment they could maintain. Now, lighting appliances …
FeatureSDG 3

Solar-PV as enabler for improved health care in Ethiopia

|
Since March 2022, the solar-electrification of 10 rural health centers is underway.
FeatureSDG 17

Berlin and Windhoek: renewable energy for hospitals and schools

|
The partnership will put special focus on remote settlement areas with lacking access to elementary infrastructures.
FeatureSDG 3

First months with solar power increased safe births and improved health services at rural health centers in Uganda

|
The findings and impacts on the community are remarkable.
NewsSDG 3

Student cooperative takes off

|
Twelve experimental kits specially developed by the student cooperative are on their way to the primary school in Ntarama.
ProfileSDG 4

Electricity for IT rooms in five schools

|
The organisation Pamodzi Ndi Ana equips schools with computers and photovoltaic systems. But it is not only the pupils who benefit from this.
SDG 3

S4H Project: Solar energy for better health care

|
Thanks to solar power, three health centers can adequately store medicines, sterilize equipment, and better care for pregnant women and newborns.
FeatureSDG 7

Fountain Gate Crafts and Trades School has opened

|
Skills development will not only create more access to decentralized renewable energy but also create more job opportunities for individuals in Zambia.
StorySDG 3

Impact of solar energy in the health care

|
Since the installation of the solar power system at Kwasi Addae, the number of deliveries has increased from 15 to 35.
StorySDG 3

Renewable electricity improves health services

|
Solar energy systems and vaccine refrigerators were installed in three rural health centres.
StorySDG 3

Solar energy improves medical care in rural clinics

|
In the next few months, 20 more rural clinics will be electrified. This will mean that about 65,000 people will benefit from the improved medical infrastructure.
FeatureSDG 3

Improving health care for 27,000 people

|
GBE Senegal recently trained 37 employees from these health centres, thereof 18 women, in the operation and maintenance of solar systems.
FeatureSDG 4

323 solar modules “electrify” Togolese roofs with over 70,000 kilowatt hours

|
Togolese hospitals and vocational schools save a good 1,000 euros per month in energy costs through new solar systems on their roofs.
ProfileSDG 3

Keeping Vaccines Cool with Solar Power

|
Three additional health centers are able to keep vaccines cold, making immunizations available to more people in northern Uganda.
NewsSDG 17

Call for Interest by GBE Côte d’Ivoire – social infrastructures

|
A special emphasis is placed on the use of solar technologies by social infrastructures in decentralised areas.
StorySDG 7

First solar training room opened in vocational school

|
Here, future electricians can practice installing and maintaining solar systems at 20 training stands.
NewsSDG 3

(Em)powering Rural Health Centers in Mozambique to Help Contain the Spread of COVID-19

|
GBE and Fundação para o Desenvolvimento da Comunidade (FDC) electrify 42 rural health centers in Mozambique to strengthen their capacities in dealing with the ongoing pandemic.
NewsSDG 5

Mapping of private health centers for electrifications

|
In Benin, the GBE project is mapping non-electrified private health centers in order to facilitate their access to electricity through the Fee-for-service model. As traditional off-grid electrification approaches have shown their limitations, this model has been developed for the sustainable electrification of socia…
ProfileSDG 3

Eye Clinic Counts on Reliable Solar Power

|
The MICEI Institute for Ophthalmology in Cameroon counts on solar energy. This secures the energy supply, reduces costs and allows more treatments.
NewsSDG 3

Production of Standardized and Accessible Fabric Masks

|
Green People’s Energy Mozambique supports the production of standardized and accessible fabric masks to promote safety measures and income generation for small-scale producers as part of its component on Productive Use of Energy. The distribution of masks will include recommendations for their use as well as awarene…
NewsSDG 7

Sustainable electrification of social institutions in Benin

|
One in four health centers in Africa does not have access to electricity. This applies to every social institution; particularly in Benin. The GBE Benin project aims to develop the market for decentralized renewable energy in rural areas by promoting energy-as-a-service business models. To increase awareness, GBE Be…
ProfileSDG 7

Cheap water thanks to solar energy

|
Equipped with a solar-powered pump, the vocational school in Tanzania covers its water needs and thus saves on electricity costs and CO2.