Solar panels for the first 2 hospitals in Ukraine - EUR 200,000 (2 December 2024)
On 1 January 2025, Stichting de Boomgaard initiated a pilot project with Lifeline Ukraine, Energy Act Ukraine, and Solarge to equip two hospitals near the frontline in the city of Mykolaiv with solar energy. The war has severely disrupted access to reliable energy. While hospitals and schools depend on consistent power to deliver essential services.
Since then, the partnership has been growing and flowing! RVO, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), stepped in. It committed in February 2025 to fund 22 more critical buildings, bringing the total to 23 hospitals and one school. By now trucks fully loaded with solar panels have hit the roads frequently.
Since the invasion’s start, Ukraine’s health infrastructure has been systematically targeted. The World Health Organization verified 260 attacks on medical facilities in the first 100 days of conflict. By July 2024, Human Rights Watch reported 1,736 damaged or destroyed hospitals and clinics. The World Bank estimates total recovery costs at €506 billion: nearly three times Ukraine’s 2024 GDP.
The programme aims to ensure sustainable, safe, and autonomous energy and healthcare access in regions most affected by the ongoing war, reducing reliance on generators and vulnerable grids.
The consortium is now working toward completing all installations by the end of 2025.
Lifeline Ukraine says: “This is what sustainable reconstruction looks like: it is powered by solidarity, innovation and action”.
“This isn’t just aid,” says Annemiek Hoogenboom, founder of Orchard Foundation. “It’s a shift in how hospital performance, risk, and value are measured.”
