kenya the role of green mini grids

8/10/2019 Kenya the Role of Green Mini Grids

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INCREASING ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY IN RURAL KENYA: THE ROLE OF GREEN MINI

GRIDS

Izael Da Silva – Strathmore Energy Research Centre

James Wafula - University of Nairobi

Isaac Kiva – Ministry of Energy and Petroleum

Currently, 30% of Kenyan households have electricity. The government plans to increase this to 65 % by 2020

and to 100% by 2030. To this end, the government’s has formulated an energy policy and a regulatory

framework (Sessional Paper No.4 of 2004 and the Energy Act of 2006). With development partners’ support,

Kenya has allocated resources for energy infrastructure development including the exploitation of renewable

resources. Green mini grids will be invaluable to increasing access to electricity in rural Kenya.

The World Bank has selected Kenya to benefit from the Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Program (SREP). SREP

will support Kenya towards achieving a major transformation including a low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission

development pathway. Also, Kenya’s Investment Plan identifies the Hybrid (solar and wind) Mini-Grid Systems

as a project which supports pilot programs in rural areas. According to the Investment Plan, the Hybrid Mini-

Grid Systems can increase electricity access and reduce GHG emissions. Kenya receives an average solar

radiation of 4-7 kWh/m2/day, the highest amount of which is in off-grid areas. These areas are largely rural and

have enough space for solar installations.

The provision of quality energy services to all economic sectors in a sustainable and cost effective manner is a

key Government objective. The Government is, therefore, funding distribution network development through

the Rural Electrification Authority (REA), privatizing Government-owned off-grid power stations, and

progressively connect off-grid systems to the national grid. In providing affordable energy to all, the

Government will also support the development and use of modern and efficient emerging technologies.

The Ministry of Energy (MoE) is responsible for formulating and articulating policies which create an enabling

environment for the sector’s efficient operation and growth. The MoE’s tasks include national energy planning,

human resource training and mobilizing financial resources. The Energy Act of 2006 is one of the MoE’s

policies. It established the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) and restructured the Electricity Regulatory

Board into the Energy Regulatory Commission. It also expanded the Energy Regulatory Commission to

encompass the entire energy sector. MoE energy policy also led to the creation of the Geothermal Development

Company (GDC) and Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO).

The MoE created the Rural Electrification Authority to extend electricity to rural areas, manage the rural

electrification fund, mobilize resources for electrification and promoting the development and use of renewable

energy. The REA objective is to provide electricity in areas that are far from the national grid and where

electricity supply projects are not commercially viable. REA’s greater vision is for electricity to improve the

social and economic lives of people in those areas.



The Kenya Power & Lighting Company (now known as Kenya Power) is a State Corporation that is currently

the only off-taker in the power market which purchases bulk power from all power generators on the basis of

negotiated Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) for onward transmission, distribution and retail purposes. Kenya

Power owns most of the existing transmission network while KETRACO is developing new transmission

systems.

Figure 1 Main players in the electricity industry

The country’s power supply consists of the national interconnected system and several mini -grids which serve

areas far from the national grid. The interconnected system has a total installed capacity of 1,695 MW made up

of 812 MW of hydro, 646 MW of thermal, 205.8 MW of geothermal, 5.1 MW of wind, and 26 MW from

cogeneration.

As of now, there are fourteen existing mini-grid diesel power stations. Kenya Power manages twelve of these

while KenGen manages the other two. . The total installed capacity for these mini-grids is 19.16 MW: 18.1MW

thermal, 0.55 MW wind and 0.51 MW solar. , Kenya Power has connected one of its off-grid diesel stations,

Moyale, to the Ethiopian national grid and expects to connect a second one, Mpeketoni, to the national Kenyan

grid. The KenGen-operated stations in Garissa and Lamu are comparatively large, and there are plans to extend

the Kenyan national grid to these areas.

In 2003, the Government embarked on a program that led to the expansion of grid supply to rural areas, the

introduction of renewable energy in various mini-grids and supplying electricity to public institutions. In 2009,

the Government carried out the Rural Electrification Master Plan update study in order to improve the nationalrural electrification strategy. The study identified a total of forty-four new sites for off-grid power stations. The



REA is in the process of developing ten of these site and five additional sites which are not included in the

REMP 2009.

Figure 3: Population density and electricity grid coverage

The REA’s challenges include managing diesel stations as transportation and on -site fuel storage are

problematic. Additionally, spare parts are not locally available and have to be imported causing major delays

while diesel stations’ emissions and oil spills contribute to environmental degradation. As a result, oil as a

source of electrification in off-grid areas is not ideal and green energy sources are necessary. To this end, the

Government has undertaken some pilot projects using solar and/or wind. These are the Lodwar, Marsabit,

Mandera, Elwak, Habaswein and Merti stations.

Figure 4: Lodwar hybrid power station Figure 5: Habaswein hybrid power station

The total capital expenditure for retrofitting the existing stations and those under construction is US$ 43 million

while that for developing the forty-four greenfied stations is US$ 173.8 million. Government budgetary support



and development partners’ financing will meet this expenditure. The World Bank, Agence Française de

Développement (AFD), KfW – GIZ, DFID, and JICA have already made financial commitments.

AfD committed Euros 30 million to fund retrofitting of existing mini grids including the expansion of existing

hybrids. These funds will provide a sustainable supply of electricity in off-grid regions while enhancing the

contribution of renewable energy sources in the energy mix. Additionally, many smaller units can easily be

installed to cover more rural households and capacity can be scaled up as demand grows.

Figure 6: Energy mix per mini-grid as at March 2013

Over the years the Government has been developing off-grid power stations and handing them over to the

national utility, Kenya Power. The cost of operating these off-grid stations has varied due to fluctuation in fuel

costs. To alleviate this problem, the Government has embarked on a programme to install renewable energy into

the existing stations.



Figure 7 - Locations of the existing mini-grids



Table 1 - Proposed greenfields mini-grids as per the Rural Electrification Master Plan, REMP

NO. STATION COUNTY

PROPOSED

DIESEL

CAPACITY (KW)

PROPOSED

ADDITIONAL PV

SOLAR CAPACITY

(KW)

PROPOSED

ADDITIONAL

WIND CAPACITY

(KW)

1 Nachokui Turkana 374 100 100

2 Turkwel Turkana 216 150 0

3 Kaeris Turkana 390 100 100

4 Liboi Garissa 577 200 0

5 Gari Mandera 295 150 0

6 Dukana Marsabit 330 100 100

7 Bubisa Marsabit 699 150 100

8 Illeret Marsabit 166 150 0

9 Darade Marsabit 185 100 100

10 Furole Marsabit 271 100 100

11 Kibish Turkana 102 100 0

12 Lokamarinyang Turkana 184 100 0

13 Kokuro Turkana 218 150 0

14 Nadapal Turkana 934 300 100

15 Napeitom Turkana 108 100 0

16 Kerio Turkana 108 100 0

17 Oropoi Turkana 288 150 0

18 Todonyang Turkana 79 100 0

19 Loyangalani Marsabit 71 100 100

20 Lowarangak Turkana 81 100 0

21 Kakuma Turkana 200 100 100

22 Haut Samburu 100 100 100

23 Kalokol Turkana 561 200 100

The Kenyan government and international organizations are committed to increasing electricity access in rural

areas. Green mini grids have promising roles to play in this endeavor and are included in the institutional and

regulatory framework for expanding the energy infrastructure. This enabling environment coupled with low

electrification rates in rural areas heralds a promising future for green mini-grids.

kenya the role of green mini grids

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