Alex Rose-Innes
Africa could see its vaccination roll-out programmes benefit from the latest solar technology.
With the continent still battling to vaccinate against other illnesses such as dengue fever, cholera, diphtheria and a host others, green energy could provide an answer to logistical problems in Africa. Annually, because of a lack of proper cold chain structures, huge amounts of vaccines have to be thrown away.
The vaccines against COVID-19 require transport, storage and delivery of these over vast distances to people in rural areas without proper refrigeration and energy supply. Taking into consideration the almost non-existent cold chain on the continent, it is near impossible to ensure that vaccines from Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca-Oxford, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are kept in sub-zero temperatures. In areas without reliable energy supply, this challenge is proving daunting with more than 10 African countries unable to provide a positive outcome.
Solar, as well as other off-the-grid energy systems provide a variety of alternative solutions. With the African sun shining 4,300 hours a year, solar systems could provide remote clinics and hospitals with a more reliable source of energy than the national grid. To date, even in urban areas, health providers had to rely on gas refrigerators, but the reliability of solar-driven devices are said to be much greater. Even on the few days per annum that Africa does not have continuous sunshine, solar batteries store energy for later use and directly freezes water into an ice wall, keeping warehouses cold on sunless days.
As an example, The Conversation cited the improvement in rural Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with its major challenges to obtain sufficient fuel and batteries for health institutions. With the roll-out of solar, monthly immunisations showed as much as 50% increase in the poorest sections of the DRC.
Solar options are also available to keep temperatures at sub-zero for lengthy periods. A Nigerian innovation company, Gricd, proved that solar-powered batteries could ensure stable temperatures necessary for vaccine storage, providing a tailor-made to existing cold chain challenges.
What makes solar a perfect choice for Africa is that passive cooling processes are part of the structure, rendering the need for on-grid electricity totally obsolete. Health facilities could apply solar-driven communication technologies to monitor stocks, temperatures and in certain countries on the continent, even cell towers are off the national grid.
Sub-Saharan Africa, with its limited resources, could be scaled up as invaluable solar tools are applied to empower the continent, its poorest communities and into the furthest rural regions.
