The Mwanza District Council Chairperson, the District Commissioner and a representative from the Ministry of Energy attended the event alongside hospital staff, project partners and local dignitaries.
At the core of the system is the world’s first 20kWh-scale lead-acid battery-electrolyser, producing >99% purity green hydrogen for use in clean cooking to replace charcoal. The technology uses abundant, highly recyclable lead acid materials and avoids scarce, supply constrained metals. The system integrates a solar microgrid, battery-electrolyser and MONBAT battery energy storage, delivering both hydrogen and electricity from a single platform. It provides hydrogen to a Falcon cooker in a kitchen for patient guardians and electrifies this kitchen and wards for maternity and under-5s.
The handover included on-site verification and a short walkthrough of the hydrogen system. The technical development and deployment are part of the £1.5M Innovate UK Modular Energy Storage with Clean Hydrogen (MESCH) project. The consortium includes the Consortium for Battery Innovation, Ultima Forma, MONBAT, and Malawian partners Renew’N’able Malawi (RENAMA) and INFLO.
A patent application has been filed for Loughborough’s battery-electrolyser technology. By combining storage and hydrogen production in one lead-acid unit, it reduces system complexity and capital cost, supporting a more scalable route to deployment than separate battery and electrolyser installations.
Professor Dani Strickland, Director of EnerHy, the Engineering Hydrogen Net Zero EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training and project lead, said: “This takes the battery-electrolyser from testing into live operation, providing the safety and reliability evidence required for replicating systems. With deployments progressing in Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia and the UK, the focus now is proving repeatable performance across multiple sites.”
Professor Dan Parsons, Loughborough University Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, added: “With the technology now operating in the field, the next step is spinning out a start-up to take it to market — scaling manufacturing and delivery to realise its wider impact.”