Renewable/improved traditional energy

The SP will be implemented by the GOR"s Centre d"Etudes et d"Applications de l"Energie au Rwanda (CEAER). Three representative Rwandan communities will be chosen as test sites for renewable energy technologies (e.g., solar pumps for irrigation, biogas refrigerators, mini-hydroelectric turbines, and solar crop driers) and improved "traditional" technologies (e.g., improved stoves and charcoal and brick kilns using local fuels). By the end of the SP, the tests of the technologies should provide the GOR with an index of their relative effectiveness in rural communities, and 300 rural families will have benefited from them. In all, (1) 150 families will be using alternative energy cookers or stoves; (2) 3 rural dispensaries will be equipped with solar water heaters, water distillation devices, etc.; (3) two 8-kilowatt biogas power systems will provide cooking heat, light and power for rural communities; (4) two 2-kilowatt photovoltaic power stations and one 5-kilowatt hydro system will be in operation; (5) fuel saving drying systems and charcoal production methods will be demonstrated, and (6) Rural Energy Fund projects will be established in 5 or 6 communities providing a total alternative energy output of about 10 KwH/day. In addition, the SP will provide in-country and African training of CEAER research staff and technicians, and full-time and summer research fellowships at CEAER will available for six university students. Several information activities are also planned (e.g., a series of public seminars, improvement of CEAER"s library).