Solar technology uptake lowers price of panels by 40 per cent

XINHUA

Nairobi: Increasing demand for the electricity generated by energy from the sun rays has attracted more firms to begin production of the solar panels.

This has had the effect of lowering the retail cost to the consumers. Solar firm SenRe Africa Chief executive officer Mamadou Sene said the cost of solar panels has reduced by 40 per cent in the past three years.

“This has created a great incentive especially for those not connected to the national electricity grid to use solar energy,” he said.

Kenya is among the growing number of countries that have implemented policies to promote use of solar and other forms of renewable energy. The country has a feed in tariff for solar of between 10 to 20 US cents (Sh8-16( per kilowatt Hours for solar energy. This has encouraged many firms to generate electricity using solar energy and selling it to the national grid.

As a result of the high demand for solar energy, a number of firms have also set up shop in Kenya  to service the growing demand. “Kenya is an experiencing economic expansion and so more and more people need electricity to run their electronic appliances,” he said. Currently, most of the electricity is produced by hydro and thermal sources. Geothermal and solar energy sources are a small but growing share of the electricity production.

Data from the ministry of energy indicates that Kenya has an installed electricity generating capacity of 1,700 megawatts which is produced by KenGen as well as other  independent power producers   “We know that across Kenya, at least 80 percent of those in rural areas have no access to electricity. This is the potential size of the demand for solar energy solutions,” he said.

According to the World Bank, 6.2 million households in Kenya don’t have access to electricity. Most of this segment of the population relies on kerosene for household lightning and biomass for cooking. However, for solar energy to be achieving greater penetration, it must be made available in the remote areas in Kenya.

More  sunshine coupled with the high demand for electricity makes solar power a viable off grid solution in many villages .                                   —Xinhua