In September 2005, Professor Savadogo undertook the project along with his Burkinabé partners, the Université de Ouagadougou (U de O) and the Institut de Recherche en Sciences Appliquées et Technologies (IRSAT, or research institute for applied sciences and technologies). The project's total value was $1.7 million. Thanks to a grant from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and to a contribution from Polytechnique Montréal and its Burkinabé partners, the project made it possible to launch a university training program in applied solar technologies with space for 25 new students every year. As a result, since the beginning of the 2006-07 school year, 60 senior technicians (including 15 women) have been trained, earning their Diplôme universitaire de technologie (DUT, or university-level technology diploma). The DUT has been extended into a professional licence program (three years of training) which will be offered starting in the 2011-12 school year.

The project allowed the university to set up a computer room and a hands-on work room for the exclusive use of the program's students at Université de Ouagadougou. All the students have completed an internship, usually in a rural area, where they have had the opportunity to either repair existing solar equipment or install new thermal or photovoltaic solar equipment (pump station, bread oven, food dryer for food preservation, solar cyber-café, solar refrigerator, and more). Also, 25 professors came to Polytechnique for three separate seminars for training in university-level teaching methods and solar technologies.

The project also included a rural awareness-raising aspect. It consisted in using and reinforcing IRSAT's training capacities to educate rural populations about how to appropriately use solar energy and maintain the community's existing solar equipment. The project made it possible to meet with hundreds of people from rural communities and train thirty trainers, who will be responsible for spreading this knowledge to other villagers.

Last, the project included submissions on solar energy. With an advisory committee including ministerial representatives, regional representatives for investors and industrial groups, the project promoted solar energy to decision-makers and took charge of establishing national standards for solar equipment used in the country.

Now that the project is coming to an end, we note that in Burkina Faso, solar power has taken on much greater importance. Private companies are investing in solar power plants and the national electrical company SONABEL, with the help of a grant from the European Community, will soon be building a 20-MW solar power station. Many projects now include a solar power component. All told, the Canadian ambassador noted that the Technologies solaires appliquées project was "satisfying on the whole!"

The Technologies solaires appliquées project was conducted from 2005 to 2011 in Burkina Faso thanks to a contribution from CIDA as part of the University Partnerships in Cooperation and Development program of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). Polytechnique's International Relations Office coordinated the project.
 




Two interning DUT students perform work on a solar power concentrating station used by a bakery in Saaba, Burkina Faso. The interns are measuring and modelling the system's functions as part of regularly performed maintenance.
 

Two interning students perform work in Bakié, Burkina Faso, for the company Projet Production International. They are measuring and installing a photovoltaic solar power station intended to drive a telecommunications station.

Solar cookers are installed in a rural area as part of a student internship with the Actualité Énergie distribution company in Ouagadougou.
 

Women from the village Lilbouré take part in an education session. They are encouraged to use available solar technologies to reduce their reliance on wood, which still counts for 80% of the energy used in Burkina Faso. They will also be taught how to maintain the community pumping station, which runs on photovoltaic solar power.

Left to right : The Secretary-General of U de O; Yves Galipeau from Polytechnique's International Relations Office; Pr Gustave B. Kabré, President of U de O; Oumarou Savadogo, professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Polytechnique.