Radiance Co. Ltd: Solar Power for Health Facilities in Red Sea and Kassala

I lead strategy and business development at Radiance. This project set out a clear goal: keep essential health services running in facilities that face unstable grid power and high diesel costs. We focused on practical reliability, simple operations, and handover that local teams could own from day one.

Context and scope

In Red Sea State, we designed and installed solar systems for six public facilities with different loads and operating schedules:

Port Sudan Hospital received a 50 kW system supporting operating theatres, ICU, labs, and critical services.

Sawakin Hospital received a 30 kW system sized for surgical and inpatient continuity.

Four health centres—Dar Elsalam, Ahmed Gassim, Al-Thawra East, and Omer Ibn Elkatab—each received 13.5 kW systems to protect vaccine fridges and sustain diagnostics and primary care.

We delivered an additional six systems in Kassala State for hospitals and health centres with similar needs. The programme was funded by the Global Fund and implemented by UNDP under the Federal Ministry of Health, with Radiance as EPC and Mimah Solar as our partner.

What we actually did

We started with load audits at each site: vaccine cold chain, lighting, essential equipment, communications, and typical surge loads. We used those profiles to set realistic autonomy and to prevent “silent overloads” that cause early failures. Component selection followed three rules: parts available in-country, protection designed for local grid conditions, and layouts that a trained technician can troubleshoot quickly.

Key design choices

Right-sizing over headline wattage. Arrays were sized to cover essential services first, then prioritized secondary loads based on peak periods and staff rosters.

Hybrid topology where needed. Facilities with frequent grid dips kept automatic transfer to ensure surgical and cold-chain continuity while minimizing diesel runtime.

Protection and safety. Proper earthing, surge protection, and clear isolation points were non-negotiable. We documented every breaker, fuse, and cable route for fast fault finding.

O&M from day zero. We wrote checklists for daily/weekly tasks, labeled every combiner and distribution board, and left a spare-parts kit sized to likely failures (fuses, MC4s, limited modules).

Implementation and training

Installation and commissioning were sequenced to minimize service disruption. We ran on-site training with clinical, maintenance, and admin staff, focusing on three things: what the system powers, what to do when an alarm appears, and when to call for support. Each site received an as-built pack: single-line diagrams, layout photos, warranty cards, and a short “first 90 days” guide. Where connectivity allows, we enabled basic performance monitoring to catch underperformance and soiling early.

What changed on the ground

Staff now plan their day without guessing whether lights or fridges will hold. Operating rooms no longer pause for routine grid drops. Vaccine refrigerators keep stable temperatures through outages. Diesel use is reserved for true contingencies rather than daily baseload. Because roles and procedures are clear, minor issues are handled locally, and escalations come with useful context, which cuts resolution time.

Numbers the programme can stand behind

We don’t publish site-level kWh or fuel figures without Ministry clearance. Directionally, the impact shows up in fewer service interruptions, shorter recovery time after grid events, and lower genset hours at facilities that previously relied on diesel for routine care. Maintenance tickets trend toward preventative tasks rather than reactive breakdowns.

Challenges and how we handled them

Not every roof or courtyard is friendly to solar. We had to work around shading from adjacent buildings and re-route cabling to avoid clinical areas. Supply chain variability meant we specified equivalent modules and inverters up front, with documented alternates vetted for compatibility. Training needed repetition; we returned for refreshers after the first month when real-world questions surfaced. In a few locations, dust and salt air demanded a tighter cleaning schedule, so we adjusted O&M to local conditions.

What I’d do again—and what I’d change

I would keep the strict focus on maintainability: standard spares, clear labeling, and diagrams that match reality, not ideal CAD. Next time, I would push earlier for unified remote monitoring across all facilities to spot underperformance across the fleet, not only per site, and formalize a quarterly joint review with the state health team to turn site data into actions (panel cleaning cadence, staff refresher training, or small balance-of-system upgrades).

Why this matters

Healthcare quality depends on power that works every day, not only on commissioning day. In Red Sea and Kassala, the combination of right-sized systems, simple controls, and practical training turned solar into a dependable utility for hospitals and health centres. That’s the standard Radiance holds to: systems that fit local constraints, protect cold chains, keep procedures on schedule, and can be kept running by the people who rely on them.