Solar Energy for a Hospital in Kosovo

To replace a low-grade crude oil energy system at the laundry of a major regional hospital at Peja, Kosovo’s fourth largest city, with a photo-voltaic solar powered system, to improve the environment and health of the community. The hospital serves about 450,000 inhabitants.

The community has expressed its widespread concern for many years that the release of harmful smoke into the air means they are often frightened to open their windows and contaminated water and soil affects their health and local agricultural produce. Adverse negative media coverage and the wider long term damage to the Environment led local Rotarians to take the lead for the benefit of their community.

The Partners

Host Sponsor:             Peja Rotary (Kosovo)

International Sponsor: Cardiff Bay Rotary (Wales).

Significant, generous funding was received from the Rotary clubs of Marmande (France), Skövde Gustaf Dalén (Sweden) Indio Sunrise (USA), Kyoto South, Sakurai (Japan) Cardiff Breakfast and Dolgellau (Wales) and their respective District Designated Funds (DDF) and the Rotary Foundation World Fund.

The NGO ‘Let’s do it Peja’, Peja Regional Hospital Board and Muqa Solar Company.

Beneficiaries

• The Peja Regional Hospital, its employees and patients.
• The neighbourhood and the city of Peja itself.
• Local food producers, because the polluted water is also affecting agricultural products.

Key Features

• Members of the Rotary Cadre from Brazil, USA and Australia reviewed and enhanced the Community Needs Assessment and the preparation of the application in order to create a robust proposition.
• There was engagement with the local community at every stage in the planning process to ensure that their needs would be fully met by the project.
• The sponsor clubs reached out to overseas clubs where they have ongoing warm relations and where their districts were able to provide generous funding from their DDF and the World Fund. The Japanese clubs and district became interested due to there being a Rotary Scholar from their district studying in Cardiff this year. A further benefit of the scholarship programme!
• The commitment of the sponsor clubs and their persistence ensured that the project aligned with the terms and conditions of the grant and could be delivered quickly.
• At the commencement of the project, further tax relief was obtained which, when combined with technology improvements, enabled panels with an improved performance to be acquired and increased generating power by 33%.

Further Information and facts

Total project cost                  $142,608                   Pejá Hospital  397 beds 558 employees

Club contributions                 $  38,215                   15,500 in-patients per annum

Rotary Foundation grants    $104,393                     750,000 services per annum

Project delivered in 6 weeks during the Summer of 2024                   No. of solar panels  349

PV generator surface 704 M²                                                    PV generator output 147.6 kWp

CO₂ Emissions avoided 200,000 Kg per annum