The multinational company PROINSO has donated 10kWp solar modules and a 10kW hybrid inverter INGECON Hybrid donated by the company Ingeteam, for a PV-diesel hybrid energy system to be installed at the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU), based in Mae Sot, Thailand. The new system will combine a PV solar energy generator with an existing combustion engine to generate the power needed while reducing fuel consumption.

The reduction in diesel consumption has been estimated to save euros 4,500 a year. The new hybrid system will solve existing power supply problems, caused by the diesel engine generator and fuel supply.

This kind of hybrid energy generation systems combine PV solar power and combustion engine generators. They are becoming increasingly popular in emerging or developing countries that lack power distribution grids and are used to generating electricity with combustion engines. PROINSO specialises in the distribution of this type of hybrid systems, which are likely to grow over the next years.

SMRU focuses on the prevention and treatment of malaria in refugee camps hosting about 130,000 people along the Thai-Burmese border and in communities of migrant workers from Myanmar, since the area, endemic for malaria transmission, is under the constant threat of this severe disease.

This research unit is an internationally renowned field station of the faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, in Bangkok, Thailand, and is part of the Mahidol-Oxford Research Unit (MORU), supported by the Wellcome Trust (UK).