Grid Tied solar power system
Electricity costs can be a major challenge for commercial operations in Rwanda. Solar power can be used to reduce electricity costs by installing solar panels and using the energy they produce to off-set the consumption of electricity from the Grid. This is only feasible for customers that use a lot of electricity. For smaller users, like a domestic home, the cost per watt of solar installed is too high to allow a favorable pay-back condition.
This type of system is called Commercial & Industrial, or Captive Power Installations, since the power is used only on site. The electricity produced by the solar panels is used first, and when that is not sufficient or when the sun is not shining, then electricity from the Grid is used. Savings are maximized when most of the electricity used by the building is used during the day time, when it can be partially or wholly supplied by the solar panels.
If you do use a lot of electricity (500$ per month or more) then investing in solar may be able to produce significant savings, such that the investment would be recovered in 3 to 7 years.
In Rwanda one is not able to export power produced by solar to the grid without a Power Purchase Agreement with the utility. Therefore, you have to consume all the energy the solar panels produce. Therefore, it is important to build the solar power system to the right size: At peak the power produced should be just enough to meet 95% to 100% of your energy consumption. Any excess solar production will be wasted investment.
