EcoSwell – Who they are and what they do:

EcoSwell is a surfing-inspired sustainable development non-profit organization based in Lobitos, Peru, whose mission is to drive the development of vulnerable communities through a path of sustainability, improving the quality of life of their inhabitants.

EcoSwell adopts a people-centered, multi-stakeholder approach to development. By collaborating with communities and partners, EcoSwell addresses challenges in the following areas: Renewable Energy, Conservation & Ecosystem Restoration, Water & Sanitation, Public Health, and Research.

As part of this mission, EcoSwell is implementing Solar PV system installations in low income Medical Centers in Peru to ensure their energy resilience, safeguarding critical vaccines and medication, and also ensuring they can continue to offer patient care despite regular energy blackouts.

What NEF does with EcoSwell:

NextEnergy Foundation is supporting EcoSwell in the installation of an 14.64 kWp Solar PV system in the Medical Center in Suyo, Ayabaca, Peru, which serves a population of over 14,000 people.

The Medical Centre in Suyo was opened in 2010 to provide quality healthcare to the population of around 11,700 in the urban area of Suyo and support the 9 smaller district medical posts in its vicinity. The Suyo Medical Centre, due to its proximity to the border, also serves a local Ecuadorian population.

The Medical Centre provides many vital services to the local population, such as general and urgent medical care, laboratory analysis, and immunizations. The Medical Centre also plays an essential role in the community, promoting healthy lifestyles, training health promoters and food handlers, advising on family planning, and hosting disease prevention campaigns.

The area around Suyo experiences frequent and prolonged blackouts, with up to 79% of the monthly energy supply disrupted in December 2022. These power outages significantly impact the vital operations of the Medical Centre. The consistent power cuts pose a serious risk to the storage and cooling of vaccines, which are crucial for preventing potentially fatal diseases such as Yellow Fever, COVID-19, and Tuberculosis and for the storage of medicines and reagents required for urgent medical care.

The installation of an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system will safeguard the electricity supply to the Medical Centre’s refrigerator, laboratory, emergency, pharmacy, admission, and triage areas in the event of a blackout.

The installation is scheduled for completion by the end of September 2024. Following this, the EcoSwell team will provide comprehensive training to the Medical Centre staff on the use and maintenance of the system.

December 2024 Updates – The PV system installation was completed by EcoSwell and inaugurated on October 3rd, 2024.

This solution provides sustainable power to essential areas of the medical center, significantly reducing its dependence on diesel generators and the national grid. Below are the positive impacts the project is already having on the local community, as reported by EcoSwell:

• Social Impact: the project boosts workplace confidence among staff and improves patient safety. Continuous power now secures vaccine storage and enhances service reliability during emergencies, positively affecting healthcare outcomes for the local population.
• Environmental Impact: by transitioning to solar energy, the project offsets fossil fuel usage and reduces CO₂ emissions. Projections estimate annual emission reductions of up to 1.8 tonnes of CO₂, with potential lifetime savings of up to 45.8 tonnes over 25 years (based on the assumption of supplying 80% of the energy demand during the day with solar energy, and 100% during blackouts, both day and night).
• Economic Impact: the PV solar system minimizes operational costs by reducing energy expenses, diesel fuel consumption, and inventory losses. Staff time previously spent managing power outages is now redirected toward patient care, improving resource efficiency.

The Suyo Medical Centre is now equipped to provide uninterrupted healthcare services. System monitoring is ongoing, and the areas powered by the system are operating at full capacity.

Long-term resilience sessions were conducted with the medical center staff to share knowledge of the system and the shared responsibility it entails. These sessions aimed to improve understanding of the system and help staff appreciate the value of their contribution to its longevity. Additionally, staff were taught how to clean the modules, inspect the system, and monitor its performance.

Although the system has not been configured to prioritize cost savings but to always have backup energy storage available for blackouts and/or emergencies, the economic impact of this installation is expansive. Cost savings from reduced grid demand, inventory losses, production downtime, diesel fuel for generators, and vaccine transportation will accumulate over time and will be monitored by EcoSwell for the next three years.