Kenya’s Largest Solar Park Goes Live in Garissa County

Kenya has activated its largest solar power plant in the semi-arid eastern county of Garissa, Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter has said.

The Garissa solar park, capable of generating over 76,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of power annually is currently injecting 15MW into the national grid and will run at full capacity next week when commissioning tests are concluded, Mr Keter said in an interview.

The 85-hectare solar plant, the biggest of its kind in East Africa, was built by China Jiangxi International (K) Limited for Sh13.5 billion – loaned by the China Exim Bank.

The facility that comprises 300,000 solar panels will produce 76,470 MWh a year – enough to power 625,000 homes while slashing carbon emissions by 43,000 tonnes annually.

“(Garissa Solar Park) is a break from over-reliance on hydroelectric and geothermal power. Our focus is now on green energy and there can never be any better choice than this,” Mr Keter said during a tour of the project earlier this year.

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The solar park comes at a time when Kenya is aggressively pushing for alternative power sources to supplement unreliable hydro-power and expensive thermal power.

The project is the result of an initiative by the national government to encourage private investors to venture into solar energy in line with a policy on wind, biomass, small hydro, geothermal, biogas, and solar, which was approved by the State in 2010.

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