- A new solar Pv project will begin construction this month in Kenya
- The new 40Mw solar plant will be located in the state of Uasin Gishu, in the municipality of Eldoret,
- IPP ALTEN Africa has chosen Voltalia to execute the EPC and O&M service for the plant.
- The new plant will avoid the emission into the atmosphere of 33.88 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year of the plant’s life.
ALTEN Africa has informed the country incumbent, Kenya Power and Lighting Co | KPLC of its choice of the French company Voltalia to carry out the construction and operation & maintenance of its 40Mw solar Pv project. Voltalia will start construction this month.
The new plant, located in the state of Uasin Gishu, in the municipality of Eldoret, the fifth largest city by population in Kenya, will produce 40MWac of power, accounting for 2% of the installed capacity in this country of 45 million inhabitants. Kenya has become East Africa’s main economic driver in recent years.
This solar project is to be built on a land area of 100 hectares and will have over 161,000 monocrystalline panels set into solar single-axis trackers. Once it goes into commercial operation, scheduled for March 2020, approximately 123.6GWh of clean electricity will be injected every year into the electric network, enough to meet the annual energy consumption needs of over 824,000 Kenyans.
The plant will offset 33.88 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year
The project will provide employment opportunities for the Kenyan population, both in the construction and in the Operations & Maintenance phases. ALTEN Africa has made a commitment to use the local materials available and to work with local companies as much as possible over the different phases of the project.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
