Ghana’s biggest hospital, Korle-Bu, was equipped with automatic voltage stabilizers and eco-friendly R290 (propane) air conditioners. However, a fire urged flexible actions.
Hospitals consume an enormous amount of power day in and day out. Making them more energy-efficient and helping them produce their own climate-friendly solar power brings costs down and energy security up. This is why GIZ’s "Sustainable Energy and Energy Efficiency for Climate Protection in Ghana" (SustainE4Climate) project is assisting Korle-Bu Hospital in Accra with energy-efficient appliances and a solar PV installation. Among other innovations, energy-efficient air conditioners with the natural refrigerant R290 were procured in cooperation with GIZ Proklima.
The interventions have already had a significant impact - albeit in a different way than originally planned. The first step of Korle-Bu’s energetic retrofitting was the installation of automatic voltage stabilizers in the main administration building. These devices are designed to ensure a reliable power supply and prevent fluctuations so that the energy-efficient ACs to be installed don’t get damaged. However, before the installations could begin, there was a fire in the hospital's data center, and the power supply was interrupted. "This meant that we, as a hospital, could no longer work reliably, and services had to be interrupted," said Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah, Chief Executive Director of Korle-Bu. The consequences for patients and patients-in-waiting were enormous.