Building Solar Charging Station in Gicaca, Kigali

This year we have fine tuned our solar power project.  AEE helped us selected 4 areas in the Gicaca cell Gikomero sector in Gazebo district of Kigali city, with a total of 120 household to whom we will provide electrical power.  We will install a solar charging station in each of the 4 areas.  We will put 12 20-watt solar panels on the roof of the house chosen as the charging station.  Each station can when charge 5 batteries at the same time.  

We will wire up the 120 households with 4 LED lights and phone chargers, powered by a solar battery.  These households can then bring their batteries to the charging stations to be charged, and then take them home to power their LED lights and phone chargers.  This way 30 households can share the same set of solar panels efficiently, enabling us to provide as many households with electricity as possible. 

We brought the almost-completed assembled solar panels to the station, performed final assembly, and then proceeded to hoist them up on to the roof.  The solar panels were heavy.  We positioned a crew on the roof, a crew at the top of the ladders, and a crew at the foot of the ladders.  With coordinated movement, we managed to secure the solar panels on the roof quickly.  

Our students then proceed to teach the local youths to wire up the station, install charge controllers, and install the LED lights.  

It is exciting to see the system gradually coming into shape.   At the end, we hope to see 120 household with electricity for lighting and phone charging, and a team of local youths with the technical skills to install and maintain the systems.