Securing reliable solar power to a site only reachable by air for most of the year.
In Bentiu, South Sudan, more than 100,000 civilians live under the protection of the United Nations. The facilities of the Ghanaian peacekeeping battalion that protects them run mainly on diesel generators, with every litre of diesel flown in – costly, polluting, complex and difficult to sustain.
Solar changes that. Solar is delivered once and then generates power on site for years. This summer, we were selected to supply a solar solution for a major energy security project supporting UN peacekeeping facilities in South Sudan. The systems needed to address three challenges.
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- Light enough to fly in at scale and easy to install on existing structures.
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- Durable enough to survive the harsh climate.
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- Reliable enough to run for years with very little maintenance.
Green Energy’s solar solution using flexible CIGS thin-film panels met all three. It is a technology we work with every day – ultra-lightweight, hard-wearing and flexible – so we know it’s effective and reliable.
Following a site survey in June, Enviroearth is now implementing a hybrid system for the battalion’s facilities: 700 kWp of CIGS photovoltaic panels, 3 MWh of battery storage, and seamless integration with the existing generators. They will also install at a second site, an armed forces training centre in Ghana.
The project aims to drastically reduce fuel consumption, secure the site’s power supply, and improve its energy autonomy.
This is a very different project to the ones we usually work on, but one thing unites them – every litre of fuel saved, matters.
Thanks to Enviroearth for placing their trust in us. Enviroearth manage complex projects on isolated sites around the world, for United Nations organisations and NGOs.
