INTRODUCTION TO STANDARDS IN ENERGY NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Standards for healthcare facility electrification are established by various stakeholders, including multi-lateral donors, finance agencies, national governments, private industry and manufacturing certification bodies. In developed countries standards are uniformly adopted across all stakeholders. However, in developing countries, standards may vary from country to country, within a country, and across stakeholders in various sectors operating within a country. Thus it is important to establish a tiered approach to standards that drives development beginning with global standards and ending with local standards (customs or practices).
This section on standards for healthcare facility electrification begins with standards developed by international donor agencies, specifically standards that are adopted by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), a joint venture project of the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank Group (WBG). Specifically, these standards are established for the benefit of developing countries seeking to access funds from international donor agencies. National standards are also review by country, as applicable; product standards are considered, as required; and local practices are reviewed, as known. The Republic of Uganda is the host country for this healthcare electrification project and, as such, national standards across regulatory agencies will be applicable. Sources for regulatory standards are identified before each section, below.
This section on standards for healthcare facility electrification begins with standards developed by international donor agencies, specifically standards that are adopted by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), a joint venture project of the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank Group (WBG). Specifically, these standards are established for the benefit of developing countries seeking to access funds from international donor agencies. National standards are also review by country, as applicable; product standards are considered, as required; and local practices are reviewed, as known. The Republic of Uganda is the host country for this healthcare electrification project and, as such, national standards across regulatory agencies will be applicable. Sources for regulatory standards are identified before each section, below.
Section A: Standards from Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) Powering Health Facilities - Approach, pages. 3-4 (Reference)
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Section A. Defining energy needs:
To define the energy needs of health facilities, it is imperative to understand which health services are being delivered at the different levels of care, as described in national health policy. In parallel, an analysis needs to be made of which appliances and (electricity-dependent) equipment is needed to effectively deliver these services.
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Note: in some cases, health services may not be currently offered because of a lack of equipment or staffing. It is still recommended to use the national policy as a guideline for deciding which services and associated equipment to include in the final needs assessment.
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While several different categorizations of power needs exist, they can largely be divided into the following groups:
- Medical services: this includes maternal and child health, surgery, diagnostics, equipment sterilization, etc.
- Infrastructure: this includes water infrastructure, medical waste treatment, and security lights.
- ICT equipment: this includes computers, printers, and connectivity equipment.
- Additional needs: this includes power needs of staff quarters.
A summary table of different types of energy needs and indicative power needs of different appliances can be found in the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank publication Access to Modern Energy Services for Health Facilities in Resource-Constrained Settings (in Table 3). For more detailed information, see references listed in Bibliography, and Lesson 3.0. Energy Needs Assessment.
B. Energy audits:
Once the preliminary energy needs for facilities have been defined, an energy audit is carried out to: (i) identify the medical equipment on-site, (ii) understand the physical infrastructure, and (iii) conduct pre-feasibility for community mini-grid potential.
A first step is to select an appropriate auditing tool, and if necessary adapt to the local context. Several auditing tools exist, both for general off-grid energy needs assessments as well as those tailored for off- grid health facilities. Two examples of detailed surveys that can be rapidly modified for different settings include:
- WHO and World Bank’s proposed energy module – Annex 1 of the publication referenced above Modern Energy Services for Health Facilities in Resource-Constrained Settings
- The HOMER tool, which is currently being updated to add more COVID-19 specific appliances and context
Ideally, audits should involve on-site inspection of each facility, and interviews with staff. In general, audit results need to be well captured to ensure that the results can be analyzed, aggregated, and compared.
For COVID-19 specific energy needs, SEforALL is collecting and making available a number of technical resources on this web page.