husseinnsanzi/Solar-Microgrid-Rwanda

Off-grid solar-battery microgrid for rural health facilities — design, hourly simulation & cost analysis in Python. # Solar-Battery Microgrid for a Rural Health Center in Rwanda An independent engineering project that designs and simulates a standalone solar-battery microgrid capable of reliably powering a rural health center in Rwanda — and proves it costs roughly **half as much as a diesel generator** over 25 years. **Author:** Hussein NSANZIMFURA · Electrical Power Engineer · Kigali, Rwanda --- ## Problem Many rural health centers in Rwanda lack a reliable grid connection and depend on costly, unreliable diesel generators. Yet they run critical loads — vaccine refrigerators, lab equipment, delivery-room lighting — that cannot lose power. This project asks: can a solar-battery system supply such a facility reliably and affordably? ## Approach The design followed five stages: 1. **Load assessment** — built an hourly demand profile for a typical health center. 2. **Solar resource** — pulled 19 years (2005–2023) of irradiation data from PVGIS for a site near Nyagatare; used the worst month (4.06 peak sun hours) as the sizing basis. 3. **Sizing** — sized the PV array, battery and inverter with standard off-grid formulas. 4. **Simulation** — an hourly energy-balance model in Python tracking battery state of charge. 5. **Economics** — levelized cost of energy vs. a diesel generator over 25 years. ## Final Design | Component | Specification | |----------------|--------------------------| | Design load | 20 kWh/day | | Solar array | 7 kWp (13 × 550 W) | | Battery | 40 kWh lithium (LiFePO₄) | | Inverter | 6 kW hybrid | | System voltage | 48 V DC | ## Key Results - **Reliability:** 0 kWh unmet load — supplies the facility every hour, even in the worst solar month. Minimum battery state of charge: 12.3 kWh. - **Cost:** solar LCOE **$0.364/kWh** vs. diesel **$0.727/kWh**. - **Savings:** ≈ **$70,600** over 25 years compared with diesel. *24-hour system performance: solar generation, load, and …