Several hospitals in Haiti, including Hospital Lumiere; which is a 120-bed medical-surgical facility that serves 60,000 residences of Bonne Fin. Also another Hospital Lumiere in Cayes that continued operations after the earthquakes and fuel & food inflation due to the PV system installations.

Located in the mountains of Southern Haiti, Hospital Lumiere is a 120-bed medical-surgical facility that swerved the 60,000 residences of Bonne Fin despite having no access to utility power. Instead, the hospital relied on a combination of aging hydro and diesel generators, leaving the hospital struggling with costly fuel bill. Regular brown and blackouts interrupted medical care, damaged sensitive equipment and jeopardized medicine storage. To alleviate these issues, the hospital decided to go solar. It turned to Smucker's Energy for its extensive experience with off-grid solar systems to design and install the Hospital's 84kw AC Coupled Stand Alone Micro-Grid. This system incorporates both the existing hydro and diesel generators, along with 4000-amp hours of battery capacity.

Smucker's Energy did the project at-cost with a volunteer crew. It worked with its trusted network of solar partners, manufacturers and distributers to secure top-tier solar components at a much-reduced cost. In addition, Smucker's Energy put its considerable grant writing skills (honed on USDA REAP Grants) to work, and secure, on behalf of the hospital, a grant of 50 kilowatts of solar modules from SolarWorld's Solar2World Program.

With the generous grant from SolarWorld, the project size was increased to the current 84 kilowatts of solar which offsets nearly all the hospital's present-day needs. A project of this type is a substantial undertaking in any local, but in a remote location in Haiti there are additional challenges to navigate.

Click here to watch the video!

If you’ve got questions about going off-grid, visit our FAQs page, or feel free to give us a call. We’d love to help!