- The World Bank, AfDB, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, AFD, Africa50 and Masdar are funding the consortium.
- Kenya will play a leading role in the consortium because it is home to Africa’s largest wind power firm and has also stepped up generation from solar sources.
Kenya has joined the nine African countries to form a consortium leading the world to develop battery storage solutions to tap more renewable energy. This is because battery storage systems are critical in helping maximise the potential of renewable sources. The countries will help build innovative battery storage under the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Consortium as the world scales efforts to tap more of its vast wind and solar energy potential.
Kenya is home to Africa’s largest wind power firm, the 300 megawatt (MW) Lake Turkana Wind Power. In addition to the Lake Turkana wind farm, the State-owned KenGen will build a 200MW wind plant. It has also stepped up generation from solar sources, highlighting why it will play a leading role in the consortium. The World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Agence Française de Développement, Africa50 and the Abu Dhabi-owned clean energy giant Masdar are funding the consortium.
Speaking on the deal signed last month, AfDB stated, “Joining the BESS Consortium commits members to participate in efforts to reach energy storage commitments of five gigawatts (GW) through the end of 2024. This will, in turn, provide a roadmap to ultimately achieving 400GW of renewable energy by 2030.” The need for enhanced battery storage solutions has been amplified over the years as countries shift more to clean energy.
Quality battery storage provides a solution to achieve flexibility, improve grid reliability and power quality and scale up renewable energy, reducing the impact of adverse weather patterns. The storage facilities will, for example, allow countries to maximise solar energy, even at night or wind power when the wind is not strong enough to turn the turbines and generate electricity, significantly reducing the chances of power outages linked to generation.