Three health clinics in Cape Town townships will replace their diesel backup generators with a hybrid system of solar panels, batteries, and green hydrogen fuel cells. This matters because South African health clinics in disadvantaged communities rely on diesel generators for backup power during frequent grid outages. Diesel is expensive, polluting, and logistically difficult to supply to remote or underserved areas. The project addresses a gap in practical, scalable renewable energy systems that can operate reliably in real-world clinic settings, where power failures can disrupt refrigeration for vaccines, lighting for night-time emergencies, and operation of medical equipment. If successful, the demonstrator will show that a zero-emission, low-maintenance hybrid system can provide economic backup power without diesel. The green hydrogen component—currently rare in South Africa—could become a viable storage technology for longer outages. This could change how rural and township health infrastructure manages energy resilience, reducing both operational costs and carbon emissions. The modular design means the system could later scale to other clinics, schools, or community buildings across the country.
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An innovative, hybrid renewable energy demonstrator project is proposed to demonstrate the capability, applicability, and scalability of an integrated renewable energy alternative to currently used diesel generators for use in providing economic back-up power to health clinics in socially and economically disadvantaged communities across South Africa. The initial demonstration project is planned for three township health clinics in Cape Town, South Africa. The proposed demonstration project is a scalable, modular hybrid renewable energy power generation and energy storage project. The project has three components: (1) Net Zero Power Generation and Storage (Solar PV panels and Batteries); (2) Green Hydrogen Production (Water Treatment, Electrolysers, and Compressor); and (3) three Distributed Power systems (Solar PV, Batteries, Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Storage Cylinders). The production and use of Green Hydrogen is currently very limited in South Africa, but has been identified as an important technology for future use. The innovative, hybrid combination of these systems is zero emission, economic, low maintenance, and requires minimal operational intervention. Stellae Energy-UK is the lead project company and we are supported by Resilience Energy-South Africa and Rhizome Energy-UK as our subcontractors. Stellae Energy is a UK energy asset company that has been working on hybrid renewable energy projects since mid 2020\. Prior to that, our team was involved in international oil & gas energy projects with many decades of experience across all technical and commercial disciplines. Resilience Energy is a South Africa based B-BBEE renewable energy company. Resilience Energy has a very experienced team active in designing and installing Solar PV and Battery Energy Storage projects. Rhizome Energy is a UK based Hydrogen Systems company who have been executing various types of Hydrogen Energy projects in the UK for almost five years.
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