Solar O&M Training — Gedaref, Sudan

As part of the UNDP Healthcare Solarisation Project, MIMAH delivered a training programme in Gedaref State for health facility staff, technicians and local operators - the people responsible for the solar systems now powering their facilities. The customer is UNDP Sudan; the end users are the National Medical Supplies Fund (NMSF) and the Federal Ministry of Health.

110 health facilities across Sudan now run on solar power through this project. Panels and batteries are only half of the job; the other half is people on site who can keep the system healthy - and who know what good looks like when they walk past the array every morning.

The programme opened in the training hall, where MIMAH trainers took one of the largest cohorts in the series - including women participants - through the fundamentals: system components, safe operation, performance monitoring and when to escalate a fault.

Then the training moved outdoors to a live ground-mounted array. Trainers opened the earthing pit to show the earth rod and its connections, traced the cabling runs under the panels, and walked the rows pointing out what routine checks look like on real equipment. It is one thing to see an earthing system on a slide; it is another to stand over the open pit while a trainer explains why it matters.

Trained staff on site mean fewer outages, longer equipment life and less dependence on outside technicians. For the facilities in Gedaref, that is the difference between a solar system that quietly degrades and one that keeps delivering for years.