It is early Monday morning and the appointment schedule at the Myrotske family medicine and primary health care clinic in the Bucha district is full. Some patients have come for regular examinations, others for preventive care such as vaccinations. It is hard to imagine that just three and a half years ago, the clinic was damaged by artillery shelling. A small hole in the wall of the vaccination room serves as a reminder of that time.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Amidst Russia’s invasion, unreliable or intermittent power supply impacts the quality and availability of medical care in Ukraine.
- Healthcare facilities, especially those on the frontlines, are exploring solar energy, to improve energy efficiency and increase resilience during power outages and emergencies.
- Solar panel installations, supported by the World Bank’s HEAL project, have cut health care facilities’ electricity costs, reduced the impact of power outages, and ensured reliable access to healthcare services in rural clinics.
Much was destroyed, the infrastructure was damaged, and supply chains were disrupted. Electricity was restored only intermittently and not on a regular schedule. In the fall, after active combat operations ceased, we started to experience regular power outages due to the massive attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Primary healthcare clinics on the frontlines and in remote areas of Ukraine have been the most impacted by power cuts caused by the war, affecting both availability and quality of medical care.
Uninterrupted power supply is essential for storing vaccines, performing medical procedures and examinations, and entering patient data into the national electronic system, without which it is impossible to manage patient records in the reformed healthcare system.
Typically, medical facilities switch to diesel generators to cope with outages. But this brings its own challenges: Diesel fuel has to be stocked in advance, which is expensive, can also be subject to supply disruptions, and its storage may create fire hazard. Searching for an alternative, healthcare facilities in Ukraine turned to alternative energy solutions.
Primary healthcare clinics were prioritized to be equipped with additional, alternative sources of electricity. The goal was to ensure maximum stability and energy independence of these facilities, allowing them to provide medical care, regardless of the disruptions in the general electrical grid.
Myrotske’s Clinic Goes Solar
In January 2025, the clinic in Myrotske installed 29 solar panels with a capacity of 15 kilowatt-peak (kWp), thanks to the Health Enhancement and Lifesaving (HEAL) Ukraine Project implemented by the Ministry of Health, and financed by the World Bank.
Within eight months of the installation of the solar energy equipment, the clinic in Myrotske managed to save 5,475 kW, which is approximately a savings of more than 50,000 UAH ($1,200).
The clinic now has a stable, uninterrupted power supply, even during disruptions to the local electrical grid. With its solar array, the clinic can power itself for 36 hours without any need for external electricity supply.
Today, the outpatient clinic in Myrotske serves 1,900 patients, including residents of other villages in the Bucha district. During prolonged blackouts, primary healthcare centers like Myrotske’s clinic can now serve as “Points of Invincibility” for communities, where heat, water, electricity, mobile communication, and more are provided.
Looking Ahead
The story of the clinic in Myrotske is one of many in Ukraine, where resilience, innovation and international support have helped maintain the availability of medical care during the energy crisis caused by the war.
To date, 130 solar energy installations consisting of solar panels, inverters, and batteries have been installed in clinics across Ukraine. Between February and October of this year, on average, health facilities that have benefited from the solar energy stations financed by the project have reduced their consumption of electricity produced by the national electric grid by 48 percent. Currently, the clinics and local authorities are working on developing the capacity to sell the electricity they produce back to the grid.
Healthcare facilities, especially those in rural areas and on the frontlines, are exploring solar panels, battery storage systems, and energy-efficient technologies to reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports and diesel generators, while increasing resilience during power outages and emergencies.
We are certainly interested in seeing healthcare institutions gradually switch to green energy and renewable energy sources sooner or later, which are, in fact, sources of lower greenhouse gas emissions. And this is generally a sign of such a healthy ecological environment.
By investing in renewable energy and energy-saving technologies, Ukraine is striving to build a healthcare system that is more resilient, energy-independent, and contributes to the EU’s mandatory net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050.
The HEAL project is supported by grants from the Ukraine Relief, Recovery, Reconstruction and Reform Trust Fund (URTF), the Global Financing Facility (GFF), and loans from the World Bank, the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM).
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