The ongoing attacks on utilities in Ukraine result in chaos and difficulties most of us can only imagine.

The Ukrainian people continue to show their strength – repairing the damage and re-building systems with more resilience. Let’s hear about just one of those endeavours.

The  Head of Distribution for solar energy specialist MBI Development is Mykola Hoi. Using his experience of solar energy harvest, storage and supply he formed the charity Energy of Nature to provide educational establishments and emergency services with reliable power so that their work can continue – no matter what.

The independent energy systems he designs for schools and kindergarten are carefully researched according to their need – with the intention that they remain suitable for many years ahead.

For emergency responders, he has developed compact power units which are highly portable, can be produced at scale, and are proving to be life-savers out in the field.

Konotop Kindergarten

A Kindergarten located in Konotop City, Sumy region, provides education for 162 children. They experience power outages each time infrastructure is damaged by missile attack.

Winter snow had to be cleared from the building’s flat roof before solar mounts (made by Ukrainian manufacturer TM Rudnik) could be installed for the 4kWp array.

A Multi RS Solar device has been installed which performs three main functions: it accepts up to 450V from the solar panels and regulates the harvest for storage in a 48V 15kWh BYD battery; it provides 6kVA of AC power distribution; and it can charge the batteries from the grid (or a generator) with a current of up to 100A.

The system was installed by MBI Development’s chief engineer Mykhailo.

The solar panels were donated by Maxeon Solar Technologies and the Lithium Ion batteries were provided by BayWa r.e. Project expenses were covered by Rotary Club of France.

The system includes a Cerbo GX – a communication centre device with a powerful processor which connects and harmonises Victron- or third-party devices for full system control and flawless charge/discharge cycles.

The Cerbo GX also enables two way communication on site, or via the Victron Remote Management VRM platform – allowing engineers to monitor data or reconfigure the programming remotely if that should be required.

Extensive site surveys are carried out to analyse how the kindergarten’s power requirement will be met. The survey takes into account the location and features of the built environment to ensure that the utility’s benefits will be enduring.

 

Mykola Hoi; Mykhailo; Albert

Emergency remote portable power

Although the system at Konotop City – and a boarding school at Chernihiv which is nearing completion at the time of writing – are the largest humanitarian projects undertaken by Energy of Nature to date, more than 100 energy mini solar installations have been provided to the emergency services, health centres and local communities. They are used variously for illuminating bomb shelters, powering communication systems, running heating systems, and providing uninterruptible power supply to medical equipment users.

Mykola says: Being the official distributor of SunPower solar module manufacturer in Ukraine and having experience in the field of renewable energy for more than 4 years allows us to focus our projects on meeting the needs with autonomous power sources. An important element in our humanitarian activities is an extensive dealer network of regional Partners – installation companies throughout Ukraine, which are involved on a charitable/pro-bono basis in the implementation of projects.