Umeme- electricity

Since our arrival almost three weeks ago, the power has been out three times, for at least 5-6 hours each time. This does not seem to be unusually many power shortages, since it is rather common that the power network suffers from electricity shortage every now and then. Therefore, there is a need for a backup electricity system, which the hospital has in the form of a generator. However, the generator does not turn on automatically when the power goes off, but takes about 15 minutes to start. This means that another solution is needed to give electricity in the meantime, so that the hospital is not left powerless in the middle of a surgery for example.

Due to this, one improvement that was made during Kolandoto Healthy Hospital part 2 last spring, was the installation of a UPS system (Uninterrupted Power Supply). It runs on solar cells that are installed on the roofs and that are connected to batteries in the buildings. More information about the installation of the system can be found here.

The batteries that holds the electricity from the solar cells are stored in a special room in each department or building that needs this system. However, as anyone who has been using their phone for a long time knows, batteries get quite hot when used. To avoid overheating of the batteries, air conditioning for these rooms is therefore necessary. It was a little bit uncertain if the reason for having air conditioning was clear when installing the system, and we were very anxious to see if the battery rooms were cold when we arrived.

Mikael and Maria went on an “umeme-tour” with Mkaka who is responsible for the electricity on our second day here. We went into two different rooms that were cold, but this could be staged by Mkaka because he knew that we wanted to see them and could have turned the AC on earlier. When Mikael asked to go into the third battery room, Mkaka looked a little confused but then said yes. And imagine our joy when we went in and felt that it was very cool in that room as well. 

Just look at Mikael’s smile here. It is really good to know that the implementations that were previously made are used in the correct way!