Donated Solar PV and Battery System Powers Life-Saving Treatment at Frontline Hospital in Ukraine
A frontline hospital in northeastern Ukraine is now equipped with a reliable and resilient power supply thanks to a newly installed solar PV and battery storage system. The solar panels were donated by Photon Energy, one of the UK’s leading PV installers, and the inverters and batteries were donated by Segen, the UK’s leading distributor of renewable energy technology, which supplied a 30kW solar inverter and a 36kWh battery storage system with a backup interface working in partnership with charitable foundation, RePower Ukraine.
The 36.5kWp solar PV coupled with a 36 kWh battery storage system was recently commissioned at Slobozhanske Hospital in Kharkiv region - just 35km from the Russian border. The system will enable the facility to continue delivering life-saving care despite ongoing attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, medical facilities like Slobozhanske have faced routine and prolonged blackouts, sometimes lasting up to 18 hours per day. During outages, the hospital had relied solely on a diesel generator, limiting its ability to perform scheduled procedures and significantly delaying urgent medical treatment.
In addition to the equipment donations, funds were also needed to cover the costs of mounting system, cabling, and installation, all of which were sourced locally in Ukraine. Photon Energy and another UK solar distributor, Midsummer Energy, launched a successful fundraising campaign on GoFundMe to raise €17,000. Once the funds were raised, the equipment was shipped to Ukraine and the system was installed in July by a local Ukrainian PV company.
“After seeing a presentation by Repower Ukraine’s UK Ambassador, Nick Arnold, I immediately wanted to be involved with the charity and committed Photon to donating the PV modules and set about seeking donors for the batteries and raising the additional funds that were needed. Raising the money was definitely a marathon rather than a sprint – quite literally, as this was one of the many activities undertaken to raise the money we needed. However, the results speak for themselves,” says Jonathan Bates, one of Repower Ukraine’s UK Ambassadors and Commercial Director of Photon Energy. “I’m deeply grateful to our partners, Segen and Midsummer Energy and especially to all those people who kindly donated money, for helping to bring this vision to life. It shows what can be achieved when the industry comes together for a cause that truly matters. I have recently been made aware of at least another 100 hospitals that are need of similar systems, so the work of Repower will continue”
Yulia Bila, on behalf of the administration and staff of Slobozhanske Hospital, expressed her sincere gratitude to the RePower Ukraine Foundation for providing the rooftop solar power station at the medical facility, saying “the hospital sees over 50,000 people and employs 200 staff and the solar system means we will be able to maintain stable and uninterrupted operations, ensuring continuous medical care for our patients during this extremely difficult time for Ukraine. The healthcare system across the country faces new challenges due to the military aggression by the Russian Federation and this contribution is exceptionally valuable. We deeply appreciate your trust and support.”
Repower Ukraine continues to seek support from technical experts, funding partners, and training organisations. For more information or to get involved, visit: https://repowerua.org/.
About RePower Ukraine
The RePower Ukraine Foundation was created by Ukrainians to counter and overcome the challenges caused by the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in the field of energy supply. The charity is actively promoting the foundations for Ukraine’s energy independence using renewable energy sources and energy-efficient technologies, with an initial focus on the de-occupied territories. The charity has completed 11 projects to date providing solar and battery systems for emergency power supplies to hospitals and other institutions as well as completing two systems to provide power for water pumping stations to deliver reliable community water supplies. As well as this work, Repower Ukraine is providing training courses to Internally Displaced Persons and veterans in the design and installation of solar systems.
About Photon Energy
Photon Energy is a successful, award winning company headquartered in Reading, specialising in the design, supply, installation and maintenance of solar PV systems and battery storage systems. Established in 2006, the company has installed over 100 MW of mainly rooftop solar around Great Britain to date, and are now increasingly connecting energy storage systems.