Can a PSA oxygen plant run on solar power?

Open Critical Care, in an answer by Assist International, notes that electricity is a major cost in PSA systems, so if it is free, oxygen is essentially free. It also warns that solar design depends on many site factors, such as latitude, sunshine, irradiance and cloud cover, and reports solar systems with batteries in India and much of Africa with a 3-year payback, the main obstacle being lack of funding.

Sizing the solar plant

Open Critical Care advises solar of five times the actual electricity requirement of a generator: in its example, if the generator requires 12 kW, solar should be sized at 60 kW for the entire system. Space is the other constraint: it calls managing the area a big challenge.

What else the plant needs

• A second power source: the Open Critical Care encyclopedia entry on PSA plants, based on PAHO recommendations, says the power supply of every oxygen system must consider primary and secondary sources, for example a diesel generator as backup, because the oxygen supply has to be continuous 24/7.
• A sound electrical design: NHS England's HTM 02-01 (2026) asks for all PSA components to be connected to the essential electrical supply, and Global Fund guidance asks for properly balanced 3-phase power and protection from voltage fluctuation.
• A backup oxygen supply: WHO interim guidance (April 2020) calls it best practice to also keep cylinders as a backup supply for a PSA plant.

Global Fund sustainability guidance (August 2024) suggests considering renewable power instead of generators, for both operational and financial sustainability.

Examples

In March 2023, the WHO country office in Nepal handed over a 150 kW photovoltaic system to Province Hospital, Surkhet, to help power its PSA oxygen plant and other equipment, saying it would reduce operating costs by minimising the diesel needed to run the plant. A Global Fund briefing note (August 2023) describes a solar-powered plant at St. Boniface Hospital in Haiti that fills 60 to 100 oxygen cylinders a day.

ULTRAOX and UltraGreen

Under the Ultra Controlo UltraGreen plan, an enrolled ULTRAOX plant runs on 100% renewable electricity, from local solar or certified green energy contracts. The ULTRAOX datasheet (2022) also states that the plant can be connected to a diesel-electric generator. See what UltraGreen is.