Generating energy security for essential healthcare in the Solomon Islands

A partnership to generate energy security for essential healthcare in the Solomon Islands’ Tetere community.

Context

Good Samaritan Hospital is located at Tetere, on the Eastern side of the Solomon Islands’ Guadalcanal province. It provides essential healthcare services for over 43,000 people, particularly women who depend on it for maternity care and child health services.

Superfly estimates that 75% of Solomon Island’s health and education services are situated in rural areas and powered by diesel. Solar hybrid systems provide a viable path for transitioning rural infrastructure to solar power as the reduced diesel expenditures are able to cover financing costs of solar hybrid systems. The provision of a solar hybrid system is in accordance with the Solomon Island’s Long-Term Low Emissions Development strategy, which aims to boost electricity access outside of Honiara from 4.9% (2019) to 40% by 2025 and in working towards 100% access to electricity by 2050.

About the initiative

Through this partnership, Superfly is installing a solar-battery-diesel hybrid system. This will create more sustainable and consistent energy generation for the hospital, enabling local community members to access a safer and more resilient healthcare services. Superfly will train staff to monitor and maintain the system safely, with visits to the hospital to monitor and maintain the system, as well as monitoring its operations via the Victron Remote Monitoring app.

The partnership will also use data-driven insights from the system to understand how to develop scalable models for future fuel-switching projects for other remote communities in the Solomon Islands and beyond.

This two-year partnership, which was officially announced in February 2024, will benefit the Good Samaritan Hospital’s community members, including around 21,500 women who access health services there. By switching to the solar hybrid system, 510 tonnes of CO2 is projected to be abated over the next 10 years.

Key contributions from partners

• Superfly will provide engineering, procurement, installation and maintenance of the system.
• The Good Samaritan Hospital will guide Superfly to ensure that the system installation creates only a minimal impact on its operation. Hospital staff will take part in training to operate, maintain and troubleshoot and issues the system may have, and will also contribute to funding quarterly maintenance visits.
• The Australian Government will contribute catalytic funding to strengthen social and commercial impacts. It will also enable partners to create new connections within its extensive network, provide insight and guidance on gender equality, build capacity on social impact reporting and advise on standards and practices for safeguarding, as well as support with communications to enable national and global recognition.

This partnership was selected through the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP) Call for Partnerships to Support Off-Grid Renewable Energy in the Pacific and Timor-Leste.