Assessment of adoption of solar energy in rural Peri-urban and urban area. Case study Rwanda

Abstract

Currently, use of solar technology as form of renewable energy has been developed in different area of human being such as electrification, heating, medicine etc. Research works are significantly being conducted for exploration of possible use of Solar Energy Technology. In Rwanda also research works in this area are being done but there is not reliable information about how Rwandan people are adopting the use of solar energy. The gap between demand and supply encourage different organization to obtain alternative for sustainable supply of power. The improvement of solar energy technologies and knowledge is on of the solution to fill that gap. The objectives of this dissertation in assessment of adoption of Solar Energy in rural, pre-urban and urban area was the identification of factors that positively and negatively influence the adoption of the solar energy in three sectors chosen in rural, peri urban and urban respectively. Also comparing the adoption of solar energy in chosen habitat category was one of the objectives of this study. To achieve the objectives of this work, a qualitative research approach was used. A well structured interview has been used as the method. From different findings from this study, the adoption of solar energy is high in rural area due to absence of on grid electricity. This is the answer by considering those who use solar PV however the adoption is high in urban where most of people in urban use solar water heater and not use mostly PV because of accessing on grid electricity easily. Positive factors and negatives factors that influence the adoption of solar energy have been identified during this study. Among factors that negatively influence the adoption of solar energy, the ‘affordability of solar energy’ and the ‘insufficient output’ were the most mentioned during this study. On the other hand, the willingness to protect the environment, the fact that energy bill is paid once for all, and the absence of ongrid electricity have been the most mentioned factors that positively influence the adoption of solar energy. With different views from households and suppliers, some recommendations were formulated to help the amelioration of adoption of solar energy. The two most evoked recommendations are the improvement of solar energy storage and the reduction of solar energy systems’ cost.