Search results

Textile exporter United Aryan said it had connected its 1.8MW rooftop solar PV project in Nairobi.

Generation companies will be able to start supplying electricity directly to large customers through the national network, under regulation guidelines which the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has drafted and is due to publish in the near future.

Nairobi-based Camco Clean Energy’s new specialised finance company Spark Energy Services is looking to fund solar PV and wind plants, plus energy efficiency initiatives for commercial and industrial (C&I) developers. Spark’s ‘impact-led’ approach intends to enable local developers in sub-Saharan markets to build scale and their balance sheets, in turn creating sustainable C&I businesses

Announcements of big funding commitments and project completions in the last three months point to the commercial and industrial market continuing to grow at a rapid pace, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa’s larger economies.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a commitment of up to $165m for the Leveraging Energy Access Finance Framework (Leaf) programme, which promotes solar home systems, green mini-grids and solar PV systems for commercial and industrial offtakers.

On 1 February Bamburi Cement, a subsidiary of Switzerland’s Holcim, said it had signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Momnai Energy for the development of two solar PV plants that will meet up to 40% of its energy needs.

Bboxx Kenya agreed in January a KSh1.6bn ($15m) debt package with local commercial bank SBM Bank Kenya. The Private Infrastructure Development Group’s GuarantCo is underwriting the deal with a KSh1.2bn partial credit guarantee.

Bamburi Cement, a subsidiary of Switzerland’s Holcim, has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Momnai Energy for the development of two solar PV plants.

The Private Infrastructure Development Group’s Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) said on 7 February that it had agreed a $35m loan to supporting Spanish developer Alten’s $87m 40MW Kesses solar PV project in Kenya. The first drawdown on the 15-year loan took place in late December.

Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) managers have sought approval from their board of directors to bypass the regular tendering process to find a contractor to repair four pylon towers that collapsed in December.

Three Kenya Power managers were charged by police, following a nationwide blackout in January. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations interrogated as many as 18 managers after transmission towers carrying power from the Kiambere hydropower plant to Nairobi collapsed, causing a blackout lasting several hours.

Having taken over as operator of the national grid earlier this year, Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) is preparing to start construction work on a new national control centre in the coming months, funded by French development agency AFD. It is the latest is a series of reforms over the past 25 years which has seen Kenya Power’s role gradually diminish, while responsibilities are handed to bodies such as Ketraco and KenGen

The World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes set another new record for the size of its caseload in 2021, with power and energy cases the most significant area of work and disputes involving African countries also prominent.

Unilever Tea Kenya has said it will apply for a power generation licence this month, in a move that will reduce its reliance on utility Kenya Power (KPLC). The firm said it “intends to apply for a licence for the generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy for use within its estates in the West Kenya area that encompass Kericho and Bomet counties”.

Africa50 and Power Grid Corporation of India’s agreement to jointly develop the Lessos to Loosuk and Kisumu to Musaga transmission lines under a pioneering public private partnership model take the schemes a step closer to financial close, potentially establishing a model for private sector finance in African transmission network development