Power Up Gambia Blog

What a great day! GamSolar has reprogrammed the inverters so that they can receive energy from the generator and charge the batteries. Although it is hard to believe that this is really exciting….it really is! Let me go back…

When we first installed the solar energy system at SJGH we expected it to power the hospital 24 hours a day 7 days a week. In the two years while we were fundraising, however, the hospital has grown – more equipment, staff, and patients. This growth is encouraging but at the same time frustrating because it means the electricity needs of the hospital have increased. This means that the hospital must use a hybrid system to power the hospital: both the solar panels and the generator. The good news is that the generator hours are now greatly reduced because the solar panels are working hard.

From 7:30pm to 2am every night the generator is turned on to provide the hospital and residences with power. Before today, the generator was unable to charge the batteries while at the same time supplying the hospital. Now, with minor programming changes, the generator can fill the batteries by 2am. This means that from 2am until the morning, critical areas of the hospital that have been wired on a night circuit have power. These areas include the Maternity Ward, Medical Ward, Outpatient Department, and the Laboratory. We are getting closer to 24/7 power all the time!

Another exciting development is that the hospital has purchased a wireless internet system- enough to supply internet to more than 15 computers. This will greatly help the administrators, medical students, doctors, nurses, and volunteers! The hitch is that the signal (the internet runs on a cell phone network) at the hospital is not very strong so the connection is spotty. UGH. Hopefully QCell (the company) will come out to the hospital over the next few days to discuss our options. The hospital campus already has Africell and Comium (two other cell phone companies) towers on the property – maybe there is a QCell tower in the hospital’s future. Then the internet would be super speedy!!

We are making progress – albeit painfully slowly…