Civil Engineering and Architecture Vol. 7(6), pp. 271 - 277
DOI: 10.13189/cea.2019.070601
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Contribution of Solar Energy for Sustainable Urban Development in Rwanda

Hirwa Gloria ^1,*, Hakizabera Olivier ^2,3, Ishimwe Marie Angella ^4
1 School of Architecture and Design, Beijing Jiaotong University, China
² China Western Research Center of Energy & Environment, Lanzhou University of Technology, China
³ Gansu Key Laboratory of Complementary Energy System of Biomass and Solar energy, China
⁴ School of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, China

ABSTRACT

In this century development, some African countries are now still facing a challenge of lack of electricity, because hydropower and thermal fuel are still on a small scale. This problem results in less economic productivity decline of some countries like Rwanda which is among African countries that are at a very high speed in development, and the grid lines are few compared to the need for electricity, especially in rural areas whereby each household needs power usage instead of using local and traditional means of ironing and lighting at home. This issue can be solved using Renewable Energy for rural electrification such as Photovoltaic systems. Therefore, this paper reviews Solar Energy for Sustainable Urban Development in Rural Area (Rwanda). Under this work, case study result will focus on one village in Rwanda named as" Agahozo- Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) located in Rwamagana district in Eastern Rwanda. The project is the first utility-scale, grid-connected, commercial solar field in East Africa. The field is 8.5 MW of grid-connected power to 15,000 homes and it increased Rwanda's generation capacity by 6%. Solar urban design is a phase of sustainable urban planning that will facilitate development and could provide new solutions to the world's energy problem by reducing its consumption and improving the performance of future buildings. The main mission of this article is to care for Rwanda's most vulnerable children, is leasing land to house the solar facility, and the fees from which will help pay for a portion of the Village's charitable.

KEYWORDS
Rural Electrification, Renewable Energy, Off-Grid PV Systems, Grid Lines, Sustainable Urban Development

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Hirwa Gloria , Hakizabera Olivier , Ishimwe Marie Angella , "Contribution of Solar Energy for Sustainable Urban Development in Rwanda," Civil Engineering and Architecture, Vol. 7, No. 6, pp. 271 - 277, 2019. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2019.070601.

(b). APA Format:
Hirwa Gloria , Hakizabera Olivier , Ishimwe Marie Angella (2019). Contribution of Solar Energy for Sustainable Urban Development in Rwanda. Civil Engineering and Architecture, 7(6), 271 - 277. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2019.070601.