Bamburi Cement Sustainability Director Jane Wangari speaking during DTB third economic and sustainability engagement forum at Serena Hotel in Nairobi on February 14, 2024. PHOTO | LUCY WANJIRU | NMG
Bamburi Cement will save about Sh400 million annually from its power costs on completion of its two solar plants in Nairobi and Mombasa.
The cement maker, is setting up a 14.5 megawatts solar plant in Mombasa and a five megawatts plant at the Nairobi factor, through which it hopes to meet about 30 percent of its annual power needs.
Bamburi's sustainability and geocycle director Jane Wangari said the saving underscores the gains that lie in corporates plugging into the sustainability agenda. She spoke on Wednesday in an economic and sustainability forum convened by DTB Bank.
The company late early 2022 signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with MomNai Energy Limited to set up the two solar plants adjacent to its Mombasa and Nairobi factories.
Under the PPA, MomNai Energy will be responsible for financing the construction, management and maintenance costs of the entire project, while Bamburi will provide land leases at the two sites for the solar plants.
“It is a PPA, meaning we do not need to put in any investment and we will be getting about Sh400 million savings every year on power. They (MomNai Energy) will take away about 30 percent of our power costs,” said Ms Wangari.
This is the first time the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm is going public about the size of savings from the PPA arrangement, that saw it join the list of the many other firms that are investing in solar plants to cut reliance on electricity from the national grid.
Bamburi said in 2022, high power tariffs in the country adversely impacted its full-year performance following the abolishment of fuel subsidy in August 2022. The end of the subsidy put pressure on the pricing across the economy as producers of services and goods factored in higher energy cost.
The firm said then, it was evaluating alternative power sources to address the challenge of increasing electric power costs. This was followed by the announcement of the PPA.
Bamburi has also been focusing on the circular economy. Through geocycle, the cement firm’s waste management arm, adopts options that are cost-effective and environmental friendly such as co-processing technology.
The innovation reduces the use of hazardous fossil fuels with non-hazardous waste such as waste oil, agricultural waste, waste tyres, and condemned cargo thereby cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions.
“The use of alternative fuels is not only saving the carbon emissions but also saving us money because the cost of biomass, frankly speaking, you cannot equate it to the price of heavy fuel oil for example. The savings are massive,” said Ms Wangari.
