{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,19]],"date-time":"2025-12-19T15:43:26Z","timestamp":1766159006902,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":62,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,4]],"date-time":"2022-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1662249600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key R&amp;D Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2019YFE0126800","S202110486218"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2019YFE0126800","S202110486218"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Project of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training of National Undergraduate of Wuhan University (GeoAI Special Project)","award":["2019YFE0126800","S202110486218"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2019YFE0126800","S202110486218"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>After recovering from the Rwanda Genocide in the last century, Rwanda is experiencing rapid economic growth and urban expansion. With increasing demand for electricity and a strong desire to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is significant to further investigate the electrification progress in Rwanda. This study analyzes the characteristics of electrification in Rwanda from 2012 to 2020 using VIIRS nighttime light imagery. Firstly, by analysis of the nighttime light change patterns on a national scale, we find that the electrification in Rwanda is seriously unbalanced, as electrification progress in Kigali is much faster than that in the rest of the country. Secondly, there is a common phenomenon where power grid expansion in Rwanda fails to keep pace with rapid urbanization, especially in areas with an inadequate electricity infrastructure foundation. Quantitatively, original electricity infrastructure level shows a positive impact on the grid access of new settlements, with an R2 value of 0.695 in the linear regression. In addition, new settlements inside the urban boundary tend to achieve more extensive grid access compared to those outside the boundary. Finally, the grid access rates are calculated on multi-spatial scales. By comparing the calculated results with the official electricity access rate data, we analyze the development of off-grid access in Rwanda. The results imply that, since 2016, off-grid access has rapidly developed in Rwanda, especially in the rural areas, playing an important role in achieving the SDGs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs14174397","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,8]],"date-time":"2022-09-08T04:18:32Z","timestamp":1662610712000},"page":"4397","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Tracking Spatiotemporal Patterns of Rwanda\u2019s Electrification Using Multi-Temporal VIIRS Nighttime Light Imagery"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0945-0564","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuanxi","family":"Ru","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0788-5692","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xi","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China"}]},{"given":"Wubetu Anley","family":"Belay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Ministry of Infrastructure, Republic of Rwanda (2016). Rural Electrification Strategy."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Niyigena, J.B., and Yongli, W. (2021, January 9\u201310). Off-grid solar market in Rwanda: Integrated SWOT analysis. Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Electrical, Computer and Energy Technologies (ICECET), Cape Town, South Africa.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICECET52533.2021.9698740"},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"The World Bank (2022, July 18). World Development Indicators for Rwanda. Available online: https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/country\/rwanda?view=chart."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"IEA, IRENA, UNSD, WB, and WHO (2022, July 18). Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report 2019, Available online: http:\/\/trackingsdg7.esmap.org\/."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4937","DOI":"10.3390\/rs70404937","article-title":"A test of the new VIIRS lights data set: Population and economic output in Africa","volume":"7","author":"Chen","year":"2015","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"364","DOI":"10.1016\/j.oneear.2020.03.007","article-title":"Satellite Observations Reveal Inequalities in the Progress and Effectiveness of Recent Electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa","volume":"2","author":"Falchetta","year":"2020","journal-title":"One Earth"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1373","DOI":"10.1080\/014311697218485","article-title":"Relation between satellite observed visible-near infrared emissions, population, economic activity and electric power consumption","volume":"18","author":"Elvidge","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"1","article-title":"Applications of night-time light remote sensing in evaluating of socioeconomic development","volume":"3","author":"Li","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Macro-Qual. Res"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7706","DOI":"10.1080\/01431161.2014.975380","article-title":"Mapping geographical concentrations of economic activities in Europe using light at night (LAN) satellite data","volume":"35","author":"Rybnikova","year":"2014","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"157","DOI":"10.1579\/0044-7447-29.3.157","article-title":"Night-time imagery as a tool for global mapping of socioeconomic parameters and greenhouse gas emissions","volume":"29","author":"Doll","year":"2000","journal-title":"AMBIO J. Hum. Environ."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4054","DOI":"10.1080\/01431161.2015.1073862","article-title":"A dynamic model for population mapping: A methodology integrating a Monte Carlo simulation with vegetation-adjusted night-time light images","volume":"36","author":"Song","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3061","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160010007015","article-title":"Census from Heaven: An estimate of the global human population using night-time satellite imagery","volume":"22","author":"Sutton","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1962","DOI":"10.3390\/s7091962","article-title":"Global distribution and density of constructed impervious surfaces","volume":"7","author":"Elvidge","year":"2007","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2188","DOI":"10.1109\/JSTARS.2015.2418201","article-title":"Estimating House Vacancy Rate in Metropolitan Areas Using NPP-VIIRS Nighttime Light Composite Data","volume":"8","author":"Chen","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Obs. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2205","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2009.06.001","article-title":"A SVM-based method to extract urban areas from DMSP-OLS and SPOT VGT data","volume":"113","author":"Cao","year":"2009","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6305","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2017.2725917","article-title":"A new approach for detecting urban centers and their spatial structure with nighttime light remote sensing","volume":"55","author":"Chen","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"490","DOI":"10.1080\/01431161.2012.712232","article-title":"Exploring and estimating in-use steel stocks in civil engineering and buildings from night-time lights","volume":"34","author":"Hsu","year":"2013","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"453","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2014.11.022","article-title":"Night-time light derived estimation of spatio-temporal characteristics of urbanization dynamics using DMSP\/OLS satellite data","volume":"158","author":"Ma","year":"2015","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_19","first-page":"1466","article-title":"Analysis on the driving factors of urban expansion policy based on DMSP\/OLS remote Sensing image","volume":"47","author":"Taoyang","year":"2018","journal-title":"Acta Geod. Cartogr. Sin."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8589","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1017031108","article-title":"Using luminosity data as a proxy for economic statistics","volume":"108","author":"Chen","year":"2011","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1705","DOI":"10.3390\/rs6021705","article-title":"Evaluating the Ability of NPP-VIIRS Nighttime Light Data to Estimate the Gross Domestic Product and the Electric Power Consumption of China at Multiple Scales: A Comparison with DMSP-OLS Data","volume":"6","author":"Shi","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6304","DOI":"10.1080\/01431161.2012.684076","article-title":"Mapping spatio-temporal changes of Chinese electric power consumption using night-time imagery","volume":"33","author":"Zhao","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"647","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160802345685","article-title":"Spatial characterization of electrical power consumption patterns over India using temporal DMSP-OLS night-time satellite data","volume":"30","author":"Chand","year":"2009","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2475","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160410001662220","article-title":"Brazil\u2019s 2001 energy crisis monitored from space","volume":"25","author":"Filho","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9511","DOI":"10.3390\/rs6109511","article-title":"Tracking Electrification in Vietnam Using Nighttime Lights","volume":"6","author":"Min","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, X., Rafa, M., Moyer, J.D., Li, J., Scheer, J., and Sutton, P. (2019). Estimation and mapping of sub-national GDP in Uganda using NPP-VIIRS imagery. Remote Sens., 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs11020163"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8118","DOI":"10.1080\/01431161.2013.833358","article-title":"Detection of rural electrification in Africa using DMSP-OLS night lights imagery","volume":"34","author":"Min","year":"2013","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1038\/s41597-019-0122-6","article-title":"A high-resolution gridded dataset to assess electrification in sub-Saharan Africa","volume":"6","author":"Falchetta","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sci Data"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Singhal, A., Sahu, S., Chattopadhyay, S., Mukherjee, A., and Bhanja, S.N. (2020). Using night time lights to find regional inequality in India and its relationship with economic development. PLoS ONE, 15.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0241907"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"23","DOI":"10.5194\/sg-7-23-2012","article-title":"The Night Light Development Index (NLDI): A spatially explicit measure of human development from satellite data","volume":"7","author":"Elvidge","year":"2012","journal-title":"Soc. Geogr."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4988","DOI":"10.3390\/su5124988","article-title":"Using Nighttime Satellite Imagery as a Proxy Measure of Human Well-Being","volume":"5","author":"Ghosh","year":"2013","journal-title":"Sustainability"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13469","DOI":"10.3390\/su71013469","article-title":"Multi-Scale Measurement of Regional Inequality in Mainland China during 2005-2010 Using DMSP\/OLS Night Light Imagery and Population Density Grid Data","volume":"7","author":"Xu","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sustainability"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1693","DOI":"10.1016\/S0301-4215(03)00160-5","article-title":"Electricity access for geographically disadvantaged rural communities\u2014Technology and policy insights","volume":"32","author":"Chaurey","year":"2004","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"312","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2018.05.054","article-title":"Decentralised electric power delivery for rural electrification in Pakistan","volume":"120","author":"Khan","year":"2018","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1266","DOI":"10.1016\/j.renene.2019.06.032","article-title":"Hybrid off-grid renewable power system for sustainable rural electrification in Benin","volume":"145","author":"Odou","year":"2020","journal-title":"Renew. Energy"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"573","DOI":"10.1016\/j.renene.2015.01.044","article-title":"Incentives for rural off grid electrification in Burkina Faso using LCOE","volume":"78","author":"Ouedraogo","year":"2015","journal-title":"Renew. Energy"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"933","DOI":"10.1007\/s11027-017-9766-8","article-title":"Rural electrification in sub-Saharan Africa with innovative energy policy and new financing models","volume":"23","author":"Yang","year":"2018","journal-title":"Mitig. Adapt. Strateg. Glob. Chang."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"659","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2004.08.009","article-title":"Renewable energies and the poor: Niche or nexus?","volume":"34","author":"Bhattacharyya","year":"2006","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"97","DOI":"10.1016\/S0306-2619(98)00007-5","article-title":"Photovoltaic electricity prospects in Oman","volume":"59","author":"Probert","year":"1998","journal-title":"Appl. Energy"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2018.03.017","article-title":"NASA\u2019s Black Marble nighttime lights product suite","volume":"210","author":"Wang","year":"2018","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_41","first-page":"1853","article-title":"Monitoring disaster-related power outages using NASA black marble nighttime light product","volume":"2018","author":"Wang","year":"2018","journal-title":"ISPRS Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spat. Inf. Sci"},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhang, X., and Gibson, J. (2022). Using Multi-Source Nighttime Lights Data to Proxy for County-Level Economic Activity in China from 2012 to 2019. Remote Sens., 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs14051282"},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Stokes, E.C., Roman, M.O., Wang, Z., Shrethsa, R.M., Yao, T., and Kalb, G. (2019, January 22\u201324). Urban Applications of Nasa\u2019s Black Marble Product Suite. Proceedings of the 2019 Joint Urban Remote Sensing Event (JURSE), Vannes, France.","DOI":"10.1109\/JURSE.2019.8809074"},{"key":"ref_44","unstructured":"Rom\u00e1n, M.O., Wang, Z., Shrestha, R., Yao, T., and Kalb, V. (2021). Black Marble User Guide Version 1.2, NASA."},{"key":"ref_45","unstructured":"National Aeronautics and Space Administration (2022, July 18). VNP46A4\u2014VIIRS\/NPP Lunar BRDF-Adjusted Nighttime Lights Yearly L3 Global 15 Arc Second Linear Lat Lon Grid, Available online: https:\/\/ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov\/missions-and-measurements\/products\/VNP46A4\/."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113016","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2022.113016","article-title":"Impact of temporal compositing on nighttime light data and its applications","volume":"274","author":"Zheng","year":"2022","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pesaresi, M., Syrris, V., and Julea, A. (2016). A new method for earth observation data analytics based on symbolic machine learning. Remote Sens., 8.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs8050399"},{"key":"ref_48","unstructured":"European Commision, and Statistical Office of the European Union (2021). Applying the Degree of Urbanisation: A Methodological Manual to Define Cities, Towns and Rural Areas for International Comparisons."},{"key":"ref_49","unstructured":"The World Bank (2022, July 18). The World Bank: What We Do. Available online: https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/what-we-do."},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Weidmann, N.B., and Theunissen, G. (2021). Estimating Local Inequality from Nighttime Lights. Remote Sens., 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs13224624"},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1667","DOI":"10.1109\/LGRS.2014.2304496","article-title":"Quantifying Contribution of Land Use Types to Nighttime Light Using an Unmixing Model","volume":"11","author":"Li","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Geosci Remote S"},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111942","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2020.111942","article-title":"Monitoring hourly night-time light by an unmanned aerial vehicle and its implications to satellite remote sensing","volume":"247","author":"Li","year":"2020","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"354","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apenergy.2015.05.120","article-title":"Illuminated but not electrified: An assessment of the impact of Solar Home System on rural households in South Africa","volume":"155","author":"Azimoh","year":"2015","journal-title":"Appl. Energy"},{"key":"ref_54","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1113","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enconman.2005.07.011","article-title":"An analysis of off grid electrical systems in rural Sub-Saharan Africa","volume":"47","author":"Sebitosi","year":"2006","journal-title":"Energy Convers. Manag."},{"key":"ref_55","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Thornburg, J., Ustun, T.S., and Krogh, B. (July, January 28). Smart microgrid operation simulator for management and electrification planning. Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE PES PowerAfrica, Livingstone, Zambia.","DOI":"10.1109\/PowerAfrica.2016.7556558"},{"key":"ref_56","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1310","DOI":"10.1109\/TSTE.2014.2315651","article-title":"Smart microgrids as a solution for rural electrification: Ensuring long-term sustainability through cadastre and business models","volume":"5","author":"Ubilla","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Sustain. Energy"},{"key":"ref_57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5661","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2010.05.014","article-title":"Estimating rural populations without access to electricity in developing countries through night-time light satellite imagery","volume":"38","author":"Doll","year":"2010","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_58","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2690","DOI":"10.1080\/01431161.2017.1420936","article-title":"Satellite data for the social sciences: Measuring rural electrification with night-time lights","volume":"39","author":"Dugoua","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_59","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1002\/9780470979563.ch15","article-title":"Who\u2019s in the dark\u2014satellite based estimates of electrification rates","volume":"250","author":"Elvidge","year":"2011","journal-title":"Urban Remote Sens. Monit. Synth. Modeling Urban Environ."},{"key":"ref_60","unstructured":"Ministry of Infrastructure, Republic of Rwanda (2016). Energy Sector Strategic Plan."},{"key":"ref_61","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111357","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2019.111357","article-title":"Anisotropic characteristic of artificial light at night\u2013Systematic investigation with VIIRS DNB multi-temporal observations","volume":"233","author":"Li","year":"2019","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_62","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"112920","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2022.112920","article-title":"Using radiant intensity to characterize the anisotropy of satellite-derived city light at night","volume":"271","author":"Li","year":"2022","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/14\/17\/4397\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T00:23:09Z","timestamp":1760142189000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/14\/17\/4397"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,4]]},"references-count":62,"journal-issue":{"issue":"17","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9]]}},"alternative-id":["rs14174397"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs14174397","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2072-4292"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,4]]}}}