Research Article
Integration of Microgrids and Electric Vehicle Technologies in the
National Grid as the Key Enabler to the Sustainable
Development for Rwanda
Samuel Bimenyimana ,
1
Chen Wang ,
1
Aphrodis Nduwamungu ,
2
Godwin Norense Osarumwense Asemota ,
2
Wellars Utetiwabo ,
3
Chun-Ling Ho,
1
Jean De Dieu Niyonteze ,
4
Noel Hagumimana ,
4
Theobald Habineza ,
5
Waqar Bashir ,
6
Cicilia Kemunto Mesa ,
7,8
and Yiyi Mo
1
1
Huaqiao University, Intelligence and Automation in Construction Provincial Higher-Educational Engineering Research Centre,
361021 Xiamen, China
2
Africa Centre of Excellence in Energy for Sustainable Development, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
3
School of Education, University of Rwanda, Rwanda
4
Fujian Province Key Laboratory of Automotive Electronics and Electric Drive, Fujian University of Technology,
Fuzhou 350118, China
5
Department of Climate Change Observatory Secretariat, Ministry of Education, Kigali, Rwanda
6
School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Tianjin Polytechnic University, China
7
Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
8
Hello Renewables Ltd., Kigali, Rwanda
Correspondence should be addressed to Chen Wang; wch@hqu.edu.cn
Received 26 March 2021; Accepted 20 June 2021; Published 13 July 2021
Academic Editor: Kumarasamy Sudhakar
Copyright © 2021 Samuel Bimenyimana et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Rwanda is an East African Community (EAC) nation with rapid and remarkable past development in different sectors and still with
the ambitious targets and plans to be achieved in the coming years ahead. The government plans universal electricity access by 2024
with 52% grid connection and 48% off-grid connections. In the transport sector, the concept of electric vehicles has been initiated
and started in order to contribute to the UN Paris agreement and decrease the reliance of the transport sector on gaseous fuels
which are one source of air pollutants leading to climate change, premature deaths, and morbidity associated with poor air
quality. With higher electricity demand than the generation of the Rwandan power grid, different energy strategies are being
developed with the overall objective to achieve the targeted universal energy access. In order to overcome the aforementioned
issue, this paper proposes an integration of solar PV microgrids for the satisfaction of electric vehicle (EV) technology in
Rwanda. Using HOMER Grid software, a managed EV charging station is simulated to a grid connected solar PV microgrid
with storage in order to assess the economic impact. The results show that the proposed technology can lower the levelized cost
(LCOE) of electricity by 139.7%. This study can contribute to further research developments in either different perspectives
related to the integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) with electric vehicles or studies related to affordable and
environment-energy systems.
Hindawi
International Journal of Photoenergy
Volume 2021, Article ID 9928551, 17 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/9928551