Kenya

Much of the early pioneering work with private solar mini-grids took place in Kenya. This was catalysed by the ubiquity of MPesa, Africa’s first mobile money platform. As such there are numerous private mini-grid developers active in Kenya. These include African Solar Designs, Autarsys, Devergy, DREAM Kenya, Magiro Hydro Electricity, PowerGen Renewable Energy, Powerhive, Renewvia, RVE.Sol, Steama.co, Village Industrial Power and Virunga Power.

The government has been generally supportive of the mini-grid sector, initially by allowing smaller projects to operate with relatively little regulatory oversight and more recently through programmes like the Kenya Off-Grid Solar Project (KOSAP). This programme focuses on the least developed parts of the country and is designed to provide electricity to 27,000 households working with private companies on a PPP basis. These companies will build and operate the grids, but will not own them.

As of May 2020 there were at least 307 mini-grids in varying stages of development, 121 under KOSAP, 53 by the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC) supported by donor funding and 133 privately-developed mini-grids.

The Energy Act of 2019, repealing the 2012 Energy Act, promotes renewable energy and stipulates the procedures involved in the generation, supply and use of electricity. Any entity involved in activities of the electricity sector is required to apply for an operating licence, however, self-consumption systems below 1 MW are exempted from requiring a licence. A consumer who owns a power generator of capacity below 1 MW is allowed to enter into a net-metering system agreement with the distribution company. It implements the Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff (FiT) System, however, it remains to be seen when the tariff structures that were set out in the FiT Policy of 2008 will be enacted into an accompanying legislative text (and whether these structures will be adopted or remain the same). The act also establishes the Renewable Energy Resource Advisory Committee (RERAC). Draft mini-grid regulations were developed in 2017-2018 by the commission but these have not been enacted into law yet, nor are they available in the public domain. The Data Protection Act of 2019 prohibits companies from storing customer data in a foreign country unless the country has similar data protection regulations. The Act furthermore specifies procedures to be followed in the transmission, processing and storage of personal data. The draft 2019 Energy (Solar Photovoltaic Systems) Regulations requires installers of all solar products and plants to be licenced by EPRA. These regulations, when fully enacted, will replace the 2012 Energy (Solar Photovoltaic Systems) Regulations. The Public Private Partnerships Act (No. 15 of 2013) sets out the procedures to be followed in the procurement and closing of PPP contracts. Linked to the act, the PPP Project Facilitation Fund Regulations of 2017 were released in May 2017. Since mini-grids under KOSAP will operate on a PPP basis, PPP regulations will affect involved developers.
The Energy (Electricity licencing) Regulations of 2012 and the Electric Power (Electrical Installation Work) Rules of 2006 are listed on EPRA's website, but were part of repealed versions of the energy act. It is hence assumed that they are not in force anymore.

Kenya has one of the largest off-grid solar markets in the world. In 2019, 1,969,483 solar home systems and pico-solar products were sold by companies affiliated with GOGLA and Lighting Global in Kenya, up from 1,269,063 in 2018. In 2019, 47% of these products were sold on a PAYGO basis, up from 41% in 2018. The remaining share of products was sold in cash. Major operating companies include but are not limited to Azuri Technologies, BBOXX, Chloride Exide, d.light, Davis and Shirtliff, FuturePump, EcoZoom, Jua Energy, Kensen Ltd, Little Sun, M-Kopa, Mobisol, Orb Energy, Rafode Ltd, SolarNow and SunCulture.

The market for solar home systems could in fact grow beyond the targets set in the Kenya National Electrification Strategy (KNES), which aimed for a total of 2.66 million households to receive access to electricity by means of solar home systems (700,000 existing as of 2018 and 1.96 million additional by 2022). This would however depend on the share of solar home systems in total sales, which is not known.

The government is a strong proponent of off-grid electrification. The Kenya Electricity Sector Investment Prospectus 2018-2022 presents investment and financing opportunities for off-grid electrification, amongst others. The Energy & Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has also recently released draft solar PV system regulations, with the goal to improve regulatory clarity and in turn spur private investment.

The Energy Act of 2019, repealing the 2012 Energy Act, promotes renewable energy and stipulates the procedures involved in the generation, supply and use of electricity. Any entity involved in activities of the electricity sector is required to apply for an operating licence, however self-consumption systems below 1 MW are exempted from requiring a licence. The act also establishes the Renewable Energy Resource Advisory Committee (RERAC). The draft 2019 Energy (Solar Photovoltaic Systems) Regulations requires installers of all solar products and plants to be licenced by the Energy Regulatory Commission of Kenya (EPRA). These regulations, when fully enacted, will replace the 2012 Energy (Solar Photovoltaic Systems) Regulations. The Data Protection Act of 2019 prohibits companies from storing customer data in a foreign country unless the country has similar data protection regulations. The Act furthermore specifies procedures to be followed in the transmission, processing and storage of personal data. The Energy (Electricity Licencing) Regulations of 2012 and the Electric Power (Electrical Installation Work) Rules of 2006 are listed on EPRA's website, but were part of repealed versions of the energy act. It is hence assumed that they are no longer in force.

Kenya boasts one of the largest captive power markets in sub-Saharan Africa. As of January 2019, the country had 15 MW of commercial and industrial (C&I) solar installed capacity alone. Most C&I solar projects serve industrial sites, incentivised by relatively high grid electricity tariffs and a supportive tax incentive programme. Project developers have indicated that the future growth of the sector would likely come from manufacturing, agricultural and horticultural facilities. The current regulatory framework makes provision for captive power and net metering specific rules were proposed.

Several flower farms have had solar PV arrays installed. These include Thika Flower Farm 200 kW installed by Sustainable Power Solutions, Timaflor Flower Farm phase 1 (100 kW) and phase 2 (180 kW) installed by Azimuth, Rift Valley Roses 75 kW installed by Harmonic Systems and Waridi Flower Farm 175 kW installed by Equator Energy. Systems have also been installed at shopping malls, for example Karen Mall 450 kW solar, Galleria Mall 562 kW solar, Garden City Mall 858 kW solar/diesel hybrid and Two Rivers mall 12 MW solar/diesel hybrid.

Captive solar power systems at educational facilities include International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology 1.15 MW, International School of Kenya 148 kW and Rosslyn Academy 115 kW. Jomo Kenyatta Airport operates a 104 kW solar-powered cargo facility and Moi Airport has a 500 kW solar system developed by Solarcentury East Africa.

Kenya's tea industry is a prominent user of captive power. Example projects include Finlays Tea 30 kW solar and 160 kW biomass, Imenti Tea Factory 1 MW hydro, Williamson Tea Changoi 1 MW solar and six hydro sites by The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), through its subsidiary KTDA Power Company (Chania 1 MW, Gura 5.8 MW, Iraru 1.5 MW, North Mathioya 5.6 MW, South Mara 2 MW and Lower Nyamindi 1.5 MW). KTDA is exploring 16 additional sites.

Finally, many safari lodges are turning to captive power generation. For example, Mettle/OFGEN has implemented several solar systems, all with battery storage, including Amboseli Serena (660 kW), Kilaguni Serena (305 kW) and Mera Serena (640 kW).

Other captive power installers include African Solar Designs, Arconi Solutions, Asantys Systems, Astonfield Solar, Chloride Exide, CrossBoundary Energy, Distributed Power Africa, GivePower (SolarCity), Greenlink, GridX Africa, Knights Energy, PowerGen Renewable Energy, Premier Solar Group, SolarNow, Tembo Power and WK Power.

The Energy Act of 2019, repealing the 2012 Energy Act, promotes renewable energy and stipulates the procedures involved in the generation, supply and use of electricity. Any entity involved in activities of the electricity sector is required to apply for an operating licence, however self-consumption systems below 1 MW are exempted from requiring a licence. A consumer who owns a power generator of a capacity below 1 MW is allowed to enter into a net-metering system agreement with the distribution company. It implements the Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff (FiT) System, however it remains to be seen when the tariff structures that were set out in the FiT Policy of 2008 will be enacted into an accompanying legislative text (and whether these structures will be adapted or remain the same). The act also establishes the Renewable Energy Resource Advisory Committee (RERAC). The Data Protection Act of 2019 prohibits companies from storing customer data in a foreign country unless the country has similar data protection regulations. The Act furthermore specifies procedures to be followed in the transmission, processing and storage of personal data.
The draft 2019 Energy (Solar Photovoltaic Systems) Regulations require installers of all solar products and plants to be licenced by EPRA. These regulations, when fully enacted, will replace the 2012 Energy (Solar Photovoltaic Systems) Regulations. The Energy (Electricity licencing) Regulations of 2012 and the Electric Power (Electrical Installation Work) Rules of 2006 are listed on EPRA's website, but were part of repealed versions of the energy act. It is hence assumed that they are not in force anymore.

The primary fuels being used for cooking particularly in the rural areas of Kenya are wood (66% of the population), followed by charcoal (17% of the population), liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene (9% and 2% of the population respectively). There are over 1,500 kerosene dispensing points in Nairobi alone.

A wide range of clean cooking technologies are being sold by the private sector and non-profit organisations. The list of organisations operating in the country includes Acacia Innovations/Kuni Safi, African Christians Organisation Network (ACON), (B)energy, Biogas International, Boma Safi, Burn Manufacturers, Circle Gas, Climate Pal, Consumer’s Choice, EcoZoom, Envirofit, Gundua Engineering, Jiko Kisasa Multipurpose, Kencoco, Koko Networks, Mukuru Clean Cookstoves, Paygo Energy, Potential Energy, Prime Cookstoves, Ramtons, Scode, Sanivation, Stamp Cleantech and Wisdom Stoves. The cooking technologies sold by these organisations can be grouped under five main categories: Wood stoves, charcoal stoves, LPG stoves, kerosene stoves, electrical appliances and an ‘other’ category that includes biogas, ethanol and solar based cooking solutions.

The government supports the growth of improved cookstoves in the country with the Energy (Improved Biomass Cookstoves) Regulations 2013. The regulations specify various classes of licensing pertaining to improved cookstoves.

In 2018, only 15% of the population had access to clean cooking. As a result, the national government has set a target of universal access to modern clean cooking solutions by 2030. The main fuels targeted at achieving this are LPG, electricity, biogas, bioethanol and improved solid fuel cookstoves. Support organisations like EcoZoom Kenya have distributed 17,000 efficient charcoal and wood-burning cookstoves and Africa Biogas Partnership Programme (ABPP) has installed 13,260 biodigesters and established 22 marketing hubs.