- The amount of solar supplied to the national grid in the nine months to September increased by 184 per cent to a four-year high, boosting Kenya’s commitment to run on a 100 per cent clean energy network by 2030.
- Under the Net-Metering Regulations, 2022, Kenya Power customers who supply their excess solar power to the State electricity distributor will be allowed to offset the power against their monthly electricity bills.
The amount of solar supplied to the national grid in the nine months to September increased by 184 per cent to a four-year high, boosting Kenya’s commitment to run on a 100 per cent clean energy network by 2030. An analysis of official data shows that Kenya Power bought 263.55-gigawatt hours (GWh) of solar energy in the nine months to last September, marking a 2.8 times increase from 92.91 Gwh in a similar period in 2021.
This is the highest amount of electricity dispatched from solar plants to the national grid since it started tapping energy from the sun, attributed to the commissioning of the Cedate and Malindi Solar plants, each with a capacity of 40 megawatts. Kenya has been grappling with reduced rains over the years, which has significantly hurt the generation of hydro-power, prompting Kenya Power to ramp up supply from solar, wind and the dirty fuel generators that the State remains keen to reduce.
The acting Kenya Power managing director Geoffrey Muli said, “We have had to increase the amounts we get from other sources, notably solar, to make up for hydro that has been declining because of the poor rains. This has involved the commissioning of new plants mainly for clean energy.”
The 55-megawatt Garissa Solar Plant is the biggest source of solar energy to the national grid, followed by the 52-megawatt Malindi Solar Plant. Kenya Power bought 0.29 GWh of solar power in the first nine months of 2017, and the amount has been rising year on year on the back of more solar plants being commissioned. The growing significance of solar to the national grid has prompted the State to draft regulations where homes and businesses will net off excess power at zero financial cost to Kenya Power. Under the Net-Metering Regulations, 2022, Kenya Power customers who supply their excess solar power to the State electricity distributor will be allowed to offset the power against their monthly electricity bills.