The photo is sourced from Solarworx

The microgrids combining the energy from the distributed solar panels will allow for electricising 567 facilities including schools, hospitals and administrative institutions. On top of that, they will be supplying electricity to the pumps of 380 water-dependent wells. Overall, the project will provide for 277 thousand households (1.5 mln persons) accessing electricity.

Kenya has a long way to go to achieve complete electricising. According to the World Bank, in 2020 71% of the country residents had access to electric energy, and in rural areas this metric constituted only 63% (there are no more recent data). Geothermal power plants play the key role in the energy industry of the country: in 2021, they accounted for 43% of the total generation, while as hydropower plants accounted for 34%, wind-power generators – 13%, and all other sources including solar panels – 10%, according to the assessment by the Ember Research Centre.

“Microgrids are distribution facilities, which are most effective in integrating the distributed energy sources based on any technologies. Their main mechanism is coordination of the distributed generators and flexible demand to maximise their advantages for the consumers and their grids”, Nikolaos Hatziargyriou, the Global Energy Prize laureate, said in his interview to Energypolis. According to him, microgrids are the preferable solution for the underdeveloped regions, because they can replace or supplement the unreliable energy sources.

“Autonomous solar generation may cover the electricity needs in agriculture, irrigation, agriproducts processing, as well as in other processing sectors and in mineral resources extraction”, Mikael Alemu, the holder of the Global Energy Honorary Diploma, said about Ethiopia, Kenya’s neighbouring country at the conference “Regional to Global: Africa”.