In 2018, many of you rallied to help us renovate an existing 11,000 square foot facility in Jacmel to be the new home for CCH’s Clinics and Program Center. Part of that renovation included a new energy system that would support CCH’s need for consistent power since the city grid is so unreliable. Our partner, Brother’s Brother Foundation, contributed in tremendous ways, helping us purchase a large generator, battery bank, and other elements of the system we have now. This system was designed from the beginning with the goal of integrating solar power in the future to reduce our reliance on CCH’s diesel generator.
Then, last summer in the midst of a global pandemic, ongoing civil unrest and crippling fuel shortages in Haiti, many of you rallied again – helping us raise funds to make that solar power dream a reality.
We’re happy to report that with your help, CCH raised almost $13,000 (USD) for solar power in 2021. We’re now putting those funds into action! Before the Christmas holiday, Executive Director Clark Seipt and In-Country Director Dave Pierre met with our partners at DigitalKap (A Haitian corporation based in Port au Prince) to discuss design and options. We know what we want the system to do; they helped us determine what elements we need.
diagram of new solar panel layout 
current facility roof 
that energy-rich Haitian sun 
Bill Easton & Clark Seipt
Bill Easton, a long-time partner and advisor to CCH (see picture above) helped us design the original power system at the new CCH facility. And he’s also helping design this next phase of solar integration. Bill has helped bring solar energy to several other clinics, orphanages, and groups like CCH in Haiti.
This past week, all of CCH’s solar power partners have connected again to refine our design and plan. Our goal is to install 18kW of solar capacity on the roof of the Program Center. We may need to do that in two phases (e.g., 12kW now and 6kW later this year), but we’re very close to the installation phase, which is so exciting!
Our designs use materials that DigitalKap has in stock in Haiti. Once we finalize the design, we’ll need your help praying that the team from DigitalKap in Port au Prince can travel safely to Jacmel to do the installation. They will also train our CCH team so that we can take good care of this energy system and steward it for years to come.
