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Latin America & Caribbean / Critical infrastructure

Thoman Haiti Hospital Microgrid Project by Georgia Tech 2016

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations7
System facts18
Sources reviewed7
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Georgia Tech's Thoman project is an off-grid solar-battery-diesel system installed in May 2016 for a rural health center/mission compound near Fond Parisien, Haiti. Design documentation specifies about 7.35 kW PV, a 6.8 kW inverter and a 48 V/1,500 Ah lead-acid bank (about 72 kWh nominal, with materially lower usable energy). It is distinct from Georgia Tech's later 2018 Haiti RELAY program, which distributed 25 small household solar/USB kits in the same village.

Research status
Georgia Tech reported the health-center microgrid commissioned in May 2016 and supplying 24/7 power in place of routine diesel operation. A 2018 retrospective still described solar arrays at the clinic and church, and 2019 mission reporting documents further solar work in Thoman, but no recent source provides battery replacement, uptime, storm/security damage, ownership, or operating status through 2026. Operational after commissioning is supported; continuous current operation is unverified.
Historical classification
Building
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
19.48666, -71.86969
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Thoman Haiti Hospital Microgrid Project by Georgia Tech 2016?

7 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

But God Ministries / Thoman health center

Mission/community host and beneficiary serving more than 4,000 patients in the surrounding area. [4][5]

Organization

Georgia Institute of Technology IEEE Power & Energy Society Student Chapter / ECE

Designer, installer and student project lead. [3][4]

Organization

Georgia Tech

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI)

Donated 28 PV modules and supported the project. [3]

Organization

Schneider Electric

Donated Conext inverter, charge controllers, monitoring/communications and automatic generator-start equipment. [3]

Organization

Trojan

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Trojan Battery Company

Donated sixteen IND17-6V flooded lead-acid batteries. [3]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
7200 [1]
Storage
Lead Acid Trojan Batteries [1]
Solar PV
7.35 kW design from 28 donated modules; contemporary summaries round this to 7 or 7.2 kW. [3][4][6]
Battery
48 V, 1,500 Ah lead-acid design, approximately 72 kWh nominal before depth-of-discharge and efficiency limits; sixteen Trojan IND17-6V batteries. Public sources do not state final usable kWh. [3]
Inverter
6.8 kW Schneider Electric Conext-line inverter in the design simulation; exact commercial model suffix not disclosed. [3]
Design load
24.0 kWh/day low-load profile with a 2.4 kW maximum, covering clinic lighting, appliances and pumps. [3]
Energy mix
Solar and stored solar for normal 24/7 service, with the pre-existing diesel generator retained for backup/automatic start. No measured annual solar fraction or fuel savings were published. [3][4]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Battery bank

Trojan Battery Company — IND17-6V

Sixteen 6 V industrial flooded lead-acid batteries configured for the 48 V bank; exact string configuration and replacement history are unavailable. [3]

02

Power conversion and controls

Schneider Electric — Conext family

Line inverter, solar charge controllers, battery monitor, ComBox and automatic generator starter. [3]

03

PV array

Model not publicly disclosed

28 GTRI-donated modules, approximately 7.35 kW total; module maker/model not stated. [3]

04

Diesel backup

Model not publicly disclosed

Existing clinic generator retained; rating, manufacturer and fuel tank are not published. [3]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Storage

    Lead Acid battery bank by Trojan Energy Storage [1]

  • Generation

    Solar PV (7.2 kW) [1]

  • Generation

    Diesel generator (backup) [1]

  • Architecture

    Stand-alone AC microgrid with PV charging a 48 V battery, a Conext inverter serving the compound, monitoring through Conext ComBox and automatic generator start on low energy/other control conditions. [3]

  • Commissioning outcome

    Georgia Tech's launch account says the health center obtained 24/7 power and displaced its prior costly schedule of running diesel much of the night and several daytime hours. No logged reliability or fuel dataset accompanied the claim. [4][3]

  • Phase boundary

    The 2018 installation of 25 portable Haiti RELAY solar-home units and later computer-lab/house solar work are separate follow-on scopes and are excluded from the clinic microgrid capacity. [5][6][7]

  • Current-data gap

    No public post-2019 inspection or battery replacement record was found; lead-acid aging, maintenance and Haiti's subsequent security crisis make present operation uncertain, but are not proof of failure. [7]

Provenance

7 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-02-25

  2. [2]
    Georgia Tech

    energy.gatech.edu · Archived source · captured 2021-02-25

  3. [3]
    Thoman Project

    Georgia Tech IEEE PES Haiti Solar Project · Primary source

  4. [4]
    Sunlight and Cellphones: Undergraduate Researchers Bring Solar Power to Haiti

    Georgia Tech School of ECE (originally June 2016) · Primary source

  5. [5]
    Powering Haiti

    Georgia Tech College of Engineering · Primary source

  6. [6]
    Haiti RELAY: A Cost-Effective and Portable Solar Home System

    Georgia Tech repository / IEEE paper · Primary source

  7. [7]
    Thoman mission update, May 15, 2019

    But God Ministries · Primary source

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