More than 100 healthcare facilities now generate electricity under the Ray of Hope project
More than 100 healthcare facilities in 23 regions of Ukraine are already generating their own electricity thanks to solar plants installed under the Ray of Hope project. The initiative is coordinated by the Energy Community Secretariat and implemented by the Ukraine Energy Support Fund.
Solar plants combined with energy storage systems make hospitals more resilient and help them keep operating without interruption during power outages, including those caused by Russian attacks. Their own generation makes it possible to keep ventilators, incubators and operating theatre lighting running, and to maintain proper storage conditions for medicines and blood supplies.
Statements from the initiative's participants
First Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal called strengthening hospitals' energy resilience one of the priorities. In his words, own generation and storage give medical facilities an additional chance to work continuously even during attacks on energy infrastructure, and such solutions will be developed with partners and scaled up across the country. He thanked the European Commission, the Energy Community Secretariat and other partners.
Health Minister Viktor Liashko stressed that the healthcare system must be ready to work despite attacks, outages and other emergencies, and that facilities' autonomy is being strengthened for this purpose. He also thanked international partners for concrete solutions that help the medical system keep working for patients.
Artur Lorkowski, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, noted that innovation born of solidarity is one of the foundations of Ukraine's resilience, and Ray of Hope is a vivid example of it. According to him, the Secretariat is proud to combine partners' solidarity with concrete support on the ground and thanks the donors for the result.
The scale of the project
The combined capacity of the solar plants already installed under the project exceeds 9 MW. The facilities have also been equipped with energy storage systems with a total capacity of about 10 MWh. Together, these systems are expected to generate about 10 GWh of electricity a year.
Work to expand the project continues: 285 projects are at various stages of implementation. In addition, 687 healthcare facilities have been identified as priority candidates for support.
Background
Ray of Hope is a joint initiative of the European Commission, the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, implemented within the Ukraine Energy Support Fund and coordinated by the Energy Community Secretariat. The programme's aim is to increase the energy resilience of healthcare facilities by providing them with solar panels, energy storage systems and other equipment to guarantee power supply and uninterrupted operation even in difficult conditions.