2.

LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Solar Energy potential in Rwanda
Today the world’s energy supply is largely dependent on fossil fuels a form of non-renewable
energy. This source of energy is limited. Non-renewable and has also proven to be contributing to
the environmental problems like global warming.[1] This therefore has led not only Rwanda and
other African countries but also the entire world to encourage investment in the development and
use of Renewable energy sources. The research focuses on solar energy. The efficient harvesting
of Renewable energy mainly solar would be difficult without the development of the field of
engineering known as power electronics and the inverter. The research studies the design of a
single-phase inverter for a standalone PV system case study of Rwanda.

Rwanda’s solar radiation and solar resources were assessed by the U.S National Air and Space
Agency (NASA) as well as the University of Rwanda. Rwanda’s Eastern province has the greatest
potential for generating energy from solar sources. Another academic assessment undertaken with
MININFRA Department of Meteorology in 2007 used meteorological data set to estimate monthly
averaged global solar radiation. Rwanda’s daily solar radiation ranges from 4kWh/m2 north of the
city of Ruhengeri to 5.4kWh/m2 south of the capital city Kigali. In the Southern and Eastern
provinces however, conditions vary from season to season with average daily irradiation levels
reaching about 4.5kWh/m2 and the total annual potential is estimated to be around 66.8 TWh. []
The figure below shows the solar irradiation map of Rwanda.

Figure 1:solar irradiation map for districts of Rwanda

2.2 PV Systems types and components.
2.2.1 Grid-tied PV system