Solar O&M Training — White Nile, Sudan

As part of the UNDP Healthcare Solarisation Project, MIMAH ran a training programme in White Nile State for the people who use these solar systems every day: health facility staff, technicians and local operators, including women health workers from the facilities themselves. 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. For the clinics, that is the difference between a vaccine fridge that stays cold through the night and one that does not.

The theory sessions covered how a solar health facility system actually works: the cabinet and controlling package, how to read system performance, safe operation, and what to do when something looks wrong. Trainees followed along on projected slides and, judging by the phones held up in most photos, took the material home with them.

Then everyone left their seats. Trainers opened up the inverter and battery cabinets and walked the group through them piece by piece: what each component does, which checks to run routinely, and which faults need an engineer rather than a reset. A trainee who has stood in front of the open cabinet with a trainer is far more confident the day a warning light comes on alone.

Trained staff on site mean fewer outages, longer equipment life and less waiting for outside technicians. For the clinics, it means the fridge holding vaccines stays cold and the lights stay on during a night delivery.