Akwatia St Dominic Hospital gets solar plant
The St Dominic Hospital in Akwatia has inaugurated a $350,000 solar plant to reduce its huge electricity bills, as well as curb the frequent power disruption at the facility.
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The project, dubbed: the ‘Fr Franz Kruze Solar Energy Project’, involved the installation of 348 solar modules on the roofs of the facility to produce 100 kilowatts of power.
It was financed with funds provided by a German Catholic priest, Fr Franz Kruze, who passed away in Cologne, Germany, in 2013 and willed that his entire inheritance be used to improve the well-being of sick children in Africa.
Described as the biggest solar plant at any health facility in the country, the initiative was facilitated by the Ntiamoah Foundation, an NGO, and executed by Prof. Thorsten Schneiders, a renewable energy and energy storage expert, and his students from the Cologne Technical University, Germany, together with technicians at the hospital.
The ceremony coincided with the opening of the new Biomedical Engineering Unit of the hospital, a project supported by Mr Detmer Hasselmann, a German philanthropist.
Selfless sacrifice
Speaking at the inauguration, Mr Norbert M. Schneider, a nephew of the late Fr Kruze, said prior to his death, Fr Kruze, a priest of one of the biggest parishes in Cologne, made a request: “After my passing, I want to give all my assets to children in Africa.”
Mr Schneider, who is a Germany-based energy expert and lawyer, said to fulfil his uncle’s wish, he concluded that energy was a prerequisite for development, especially for promoting the welfare of humanity.
“And obviously the best energy need of Africa is solar and I hope this project will enable the hospital to reduce its energy cost to a large extent and make money available to better meet the other needs of the people,” he added.
Appreciation
Mr Schneider expressed appreciation to the Catholic Bishop of Koforidua, the Most Rev. Joseph Afrifah-Agyekum, for readily embracing the project when the idea was first introduced to him in 2015.
He said Bishop Afrifah-Agyekum did not only embrace the project but also showed a strong commitment to its early execution.
He also thanked the management of the hospital, technicians and carpenters of the facility for their commitment to the project.
Preserve memory of benefactor
The Chairman of the Ntiamoah Foundation, Mr Robert A. Asante, who was adopted by the Schneider family in Germany at a young age, said stable electricity supply to a health facility helped in saving lives, for which reason the provision of the solar plant was an important intervention in the life of the St Dominic Hospital.
He impressed on all to always remember that it was the selfless sacrifice of one devoted Catholic priest in Cologne that had made the provision of solar energy for the hospital possible.
“So we have to exhibit that same selflessness to ensure that we maintain the plant for years to come, so that the memory and vision of Uncle Kruse will be preserved,” Mr Asante stated.
The Medical Superintendent of the St Dominic Hospital, Dr Mercy Dawson, said following the installation of the solar plant and energy saving lights at the facility, “our lighting system has improved so significantly that the hospital appears in the night like it is daytime”.
The Executive Secretary for Health of the Catholic Diocese of Koforidua, Mr Victus Kwaku Kpesese, noted that the installation of the solar plant would ensure constant electricity supply to dependent units such as the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the Intensive Care Unit, operating theatres and storage facilities for vaccines and medicines.
For his part, the Most Rev Afrifah-Agyekum, on behalf of the Catholic Diocese and the management of the hospital, thanked Mr Schneider, Mr Asante, as well as Mr Hasselmann, for their support to the hospital.
He promised that measures would be taken to maintain the facilities to prolong their lifespan for them to serve the purposes for which they were provided.