TEHRAN - Seven rural health facilities now benefit from reliable, clean energy through UNICEF-supported hybrid solar systems installed in collaboration with the Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education and relevant electricity authorities.
UNICEF has supported the installation and commissioning of seven hybrid solar power systems in rural primary health care facilities across the Chabahar region of Sistan and Baluchestan Province.
The systems, each with a capacity of 5 kW, have been installed in health houses serving more than 6,000 people in the villages of Tal Mishan, Dak Talang, Nadkan, Voshnam, Gazmanzel, Rado Bala and Faqirzehi. The facilities are located across Chabahar, Konarak, Qasr-e Qand, Dashtiari and Zarabad districts in south-eastern Iran.
Reliable electricity is essential for the safe delivery of health services. Power interruptions can disrupt vaccine cold storage, medicine preservation, patient registration and routine health care operations. Equipped with backup capacity, the new hybrid solar systems help health workers maintain essential services during outages and protect temperature-sensitive vaccines and medicines.
The initiative also contributes to environmental sustainability by reducing reliance on fossil-fuel-based electricity. Collectively, the seven systems are expected to generate approximately 70,000 kWh of clean electricity each year and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 49 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. This environmental benefit is comparable to planting almost 2,000 trees.
Beyond improving energy security, the project is developing an innovative sustainability model that could help health facilities generate income from surplus electricity. Under the proposed mechanism, excess power produced by the solar systems could be exported to the national grid through dedicated metering systems and purchased under guaranteed power-purchase arrangements.