Damaged Ukranian hospital now runs on 100% solar power after green reconstruction

War-torn Horenka hospital in Ukraine has been covering all its daily electricity demand with a hybrid solar power station for two full days after it was being reconstructed by Greenpeace and green Ukrainian NGOs.

Since reconstruction was completed at the end of January, the diesel generator didn’t need to be switched on as the newly constructed solar power station supplied the hospital with the necessary electricity even during blackouts. 

“On 9 February the solar power station installed in Horenka fully covered the electricity demand during the first 8 hours (daytime) of this small hospital, which was damaged by a shell in March 2022. And if we look at the last two weeks, the coverage was about 40% of the total consumption (except the heat pump) - even with dense cloud coverage”, - said Denys Tsutsaiev, Greenpeace CEE campaigner.

Horenka's hospital was damaged by a Russian shell, and there was a need to reconstruct its heating system to have the hospital fully functional again. For that reason, Greenpeace, along with Ukrainian NGOs, decided to install a hybrid solar power station with a heat pump. The project was launched and presented to Ukrainian officials on 2 February 2023. Now the first results are already showing the green reconstruction is bearing fruits.

“We've chosen this hospital as a pilot project to show what green reconstruction means. It is essential to plan with and implement energy efficiency measures in all buildings that are to be reconstructed or rebuilt - homes or buildings of social infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals, to reduce energy bills and climate impact (CO2 emissions). It is very common to see that during the reconstruction process, the old gas heaters are simply substituted with the newer gas heaters, and no insulation is being added - what a shame! That's why we decided to show how efficient heat pumps could be on such occasions”, - mentioned Denys Tsutsaiev. 

With the reconstruction, Greenpeace wanted to show that solar energy can provide energy security. This is especially crucial for hospitals at a time when blackouts are part of everyday life because of the war. 

Horenka hospital has been operating now for two weeks without turning on its noisy, dirty, expensive and inefficient diesel generator thanks to its new solar power station. It entirely substituted the generator while it also provided great flexibility for the operation which enabled their critical equipment to work 24/7.

To allow for lots of more similar projects, Greenpeace is encouraging European cities and Ukrainian municipalities to build partnerships with each other. The environmental organization is also requesting the European Commission to include the components of solar panels and heat pumps in the emergency aid package for Ukraine.

To read more about the reconstruction of a war-torn hospital in Ukraine here, see this blogpost.