A roadmap projects power demand of 175 MW in 10 years with avoiding 0.8 million tonnes of carbon emission
Ranchi, 17 Aug, 2022: A roadmap ‘RE-Powering Health sector for Future-Ready Jharkhand’ jointly prepared by Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (JREDA), Centre for Environment and Energy Development (CEED) and Power for All was released in a state level conference today. The report posits a visionary policy approach for the next ten years in the health sector and clearly demarcates the pathbreaking role of renewable energy in ensuring energy access for enhancing the efficacy of the health services. The report meticulously maps out the infusion and projections of Decentralised Renewable Energy (DRE) in the entire health infrastructure in the state. The conference set out policy level discussion with the key aim to address the prevailing issues, systematic gaps, and define priorities with the lens of energy access and promote the idea of health and energy integration in the post-COVID phase in the state.
Lauding the initiative of much needed roadmap, Mr Bijay Kumar Sinha, Project Director, JREDA said, “Renewable Energy (RE) powered solutions can play a vital role in the strengthening the health sector as they are well suited for diverse terrain and hamlets of sparsely located habitats in Jharkhand. As a State Nodal Agency, JREDA is committed to promote infusion of DRE models in healthcare centers and it has, in collaboration with the Health Department, installed over 423 Solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems across the state with a cumulative capacity of about 7 MWp. JREDA will take the lead in facilitating tech know-how, capacity building and training support to a range of stakeholders in this process.”
The roadmap-report projects that power demand in the health sector is expected to reach 175 MW in the next ten years, out of which DRE has a scope of around 40 MW. Renewable energy can attract invest-potential of 1200 crore rupees in health sector of Jharkhand. It further notes that in the ‘Business as Usual’ scenario, the DRE can help the state exchequer save 227 crores with a mere investment of 124 crore, while in ‘Optimistic’ scenario it can help save 559 crores with an investment of 250 crore. The DRE can bring environmental co-benefits by avoiding nearly 0.8 million tonnes of CO2 in Jharkhand which is equivalent to carbon stored by 11,339,214 tree seedlings over a period of ten years.
Elaborating the intent behind this initiative, Dr Manish Kumar, Director-Research and Development at CEED said, “Considering energy access related concerns in health centres, this roadmap brings a compelling argument in favour of solarisation of the health sector. It is high time that a statewide program ‘Solarization of Health’ should be initiated to install renewable energy systems in all government-owned public healthcare centers. This program should work in a convergence mode involving aligned agencies on creation of enabling frameworks and financing ecosystems with encouraging technological solutions in an array of health services”.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ashwani Ashok, Program Manager at Power for All said that, “Considering a large number of health centres do not qualify the criteria and guidelines of Indian Public Health Standard (IPHS), Jharkhand urgently needs to bring in an ecosystem that takes a holistic approach. Solarising health centers can be a financial boon for health centers with a low payback period of 6-7 years thereby providing support against rising fuel and electricity prices. In such a scenario, this report chalks out a visionary path for strengthening the health infrastructure through sustainable means.”
At the conference, several case studies of solarised primary health centres and private hospitals and its positive changes in their operational activities were also presented. Praising the transformative role of DRE applications in healthcare sector, Dr Shambhu Prasad Singh, President, Ranchi Chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA) and Director, Kanke General Hospital said, “In rural hospitals, DRE solutions can provide an array of services during general as well as medical emergencies through solar-based cold storage, vaccine refrigerator, baby warmer and portable health care kits, etc. I urge the State government, IMA fraternity and private hospital administrators to increasingly use the DRE applications in their premises which will enhance the services and also improve health indicators of the state.”
The conference also deliberated upon the way forward of energy transition in health sector through a technical session which was participated by Mr Mukesh Prasad (JREDA), Mr Debnath Bera (Ranchi Partners Management Consultants), Mr Shyamal Santra (TRIF), and Mr Satyam Abhishek (CEED), etc. The session agreed that there must be a robust policy mechanism for health and energy integration with overcoming investment gaps and promoting capacity building and technology integration which will play a major role in defining success in health infrastructure. The conference was attended by key representatives of government departments such as energy, health, rural development along with Indian Medical Association, renewable energy developers, health institutions, civil society organisations and other key stakeholders from the state.