Sudan Solarisation Programme — UNDP Healthcare

Sudan is a vast nation spanning nearly 1.9 million square kilometres, with electricity infrastructure that remains among the least developed in East Africa. Across the country, healthcare facilities — the frontline of public health — operate in conditions that no hospital should face: intermittent power, frequent blackouts, and total dependence on diesel generators whose fuel must be trucked across hundreds of kilometres of contested terrain.

In states such as North Darfur, South Darfur, North Kordofan, White Nile, Kassala, and Red Sea, entire communities rely on health centres that lack the consistent electricity needed for refrigeration of vaccines, surgical lighting, diagnostic equipment, and even basic lighting after dark. The stakes could not be higher — when the power fails, lives are at risk.

The challenge was multi-dimensional. Sudan's national grid, already among the least reliable in the region, had been further degraded by ongoing armed conflict. Diesel supply chains were routinely disrupted by insecurity, leaving generators idle and healthcare facilities in darkness at their most critical moments. Many of these facilities sit in remote, hard-to-reach locations where grid extension is economically unfeasible and where logistical operations carry significant security risks.

The mandate from UNDP was clear but formidable: deliver reliable, uninterrupted power to over 100 healthcare facilities spread across six states, in a volatile operational environment, using a technology robust enough to endure extreme heat, sandstorms, and minimal local maintenance capacity.

MIMAH was engaged through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to deliver a large-scale healthcare solarisation programme. Our approach prioritised three pillars: speed of deployment, system resilience, and long-term sustainability.

We deployed 555kW Jinko Solar panels paired with Deye inverters and Shoto/Polygon battery storage systems across 110 healthcare facilities. Each installation was engineered as a standalone off-grid or hybrid system, individually sized to meet the specific energy demands of the facility it served — from small rural health units requiring basic lighting and refrigeration, to larger state hospitals running diagnostic imaging and surgical theatres.

Our teams navigated complex logistics across active conflict zones, coordinating with UNDP field offices, local health authorities, and international transport partners to ensure safe delivery and installation of equipment. Every system was commissioned on-site with structured knowledge transfer to local staff, ensuring that basic monitoring, cleaning, and first-line maintenance could continue independently between MIMAH service visits.

To date, MIMAH has successfully solarised 110 healthcare facilities across six Sudanese states, delivering over 1MW of cumulative solar generation capacity. Diesel dependency at these facilities has dropped dramatically — in many cases, eliminated entirely. Healthcare services that were previously at risk of interruption, including cold chain storage for vaccines, operating theatre lighting, and neonatal care, now operate on reliable, clean solar energy powered by Sudan's abundant sunlight.

The programme continues to expand, with MIMAH providing ongoing handling, delivery, servicing, and maintenance as new facilities are brought online. This remains one of the largest healthcare solarisation programmes in East Africa, and a model for how renewable energy can directly protect human life in fragile and conflict-affected settings.