A few months after a solar panel installation was performed at one of Baghdad’s medical centers, CNN got in there to talk with Dr. Thamer Al-Musawi, one of the doctors at the Al-Dakhil Medical Center. The 64-panel, battery-backed array is designed to support the refrigeration, fans, and lighting of the center, though does not extend to heating/cooling. The solar installation was one of two within Baghdad funded by the U.S. and supported by the Iraqi Health Ministry.

Ideally, this means the clinic could stop using generators, with their expensive fuel and occasional unreliability, during the city’s frequent power outages. But right now there has been a setback–it looks like someone has tampered with a circuit board so that the building can’t draw power from the batteries. It seems to be a short-term problem, and hopefully the system will be fully operational again soon. When the solar panels are providing power to the clinic 24 hours a day, the clinic will be able to better treat Baghdad residents: both by being open longer, and by having a reliable supply of vaccines and other medicines that require constant refrigeration.

Solar is not always the most cost-effective alternate power source due to the high cost of batteries, but in some situations it can still make a great deal of sense. When essential medical equipment is in question, especially, a solar installation with battery backup can be a great solution. We have no shortage of stories about misappropriation of funds or U.S.-funded projects gone wrong in Iraq–it’s a pleasure to see that solar power in this oil nation, in this small but highly important application, is one of the war’s success stories.

News sources: CNN, OfficialWire