Energetically resilient system for a Medical Center in Peru

For the very first time, the medical teams of the local Medical Center of Talara, Peru, can rely on electricity to keep their vaccines safe. Indeed, a beautiful partnership between Fondation Nexans and the NGO EcoSwell, with the help the company Huemura, led to the inauguration of an energetically resilient system.

Aiming at substituting for the classical system when an electricity cut occurs, it is one of the first ones to be created in North-Peru. Look back at this pioneer system that has been game changingything for the Medical Center.

Limited access to electricity: a real issue for the Talara’s Medical Center

Talara has always been experiencing electricity blackouts: “The town is often impacted by a bad electrical fluid. Sometimes we can spend up to 3 days without electrical light”, says Dr. Armando Galan, Director of the Medical Center.

This represents a real issue, especially when it comes to vaccines safety. The teams store them in several fridges, but when a power cut occurs and the fridges don’t work anymore, cold chain cannot be respected. And cold chain is vital to these kind of life-saving products.

How does it work?

Cold chain is a temperature-controlled supply chain organization that protects the safety and quality of supplies that are sensitive to temperature.  It is the case of vaccines that are dependent to a very strict protocol regarding a limited temperature range. And they are dependent on this condition during their whole supply chain: from the manufacture to the moment of vaccination, including the storage. We can only imagine what happens when the refrigeration is deficient: the vaccines permanently lose their capacity of protection against the disease. If this happens, of course, it cannot be used anymore.

This is why the energetically resilient system that has just been installed in Talara’s Medical Center is a complete game changer. Here’s the idea: implementing an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system that can take over when the classical system is down.

Fondation Nexans and EcoSwell have thus set up 24 solar panels of 470 watts, 16 batteries of 260 amperes, and 2 commutators of 5000 watts. The installation now allows the system to keep functioning even when a breakdown occurs!

Resilient energy system: how a successful partnership between Fondation Nexans and the NGO EcoSwell is benefitting a whole community

This project is the fruit of a successful partnership between Fondation Nexans and the NGO EcoSwell, with the participation of Huemura, a gold partner that did a partial donation of the cables requirement. EcoSwell sustainability projects align with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Its purpose: to guide the development of rural and semi-rural localities towards sustainable development and increase the quality of life of locals.

“This is contributing to maintain public health in perfect conditions” says Dr. Armando Galan, Director of the José Abelardo Quinones Medical Center.

As Andres Bustamante, Director of EcoSwell, explains it, the installation will serve several areas of the Medical Center: the cold chain, the pharmacy area, the emergency area, and the reception. The most important activities of the Center are thus guaranteed to run smoothly on all occasions.

This initiative will not stop there: all entities have expressed their willingness to support two other medical centers in the Piura area in the next two years.