Solar firm set to install 1,154kWp power plants at Icipe campuses

What you need to know:

Two solar roof systems combined with a carport system will be built at the icipe Duduville Campus in Nairobi.
The third solar roof system will be built at the icipe Thomas Odhiambo Campus, in Western Kenya.

Solar energy firm Solarcentury is set to install three power plants with a total capacity of 1,154kWp at the Nairobi-based International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe).

Work on site will commence in July and the systems are expected to be generating solar electricity by October.

Two solar roof systems combined with a carport system will be built at the icipe Duduville Campus in Nairobi. The third solar roof system will be built at the icipe Thomas Odhiambo Campus, in Western Kenya, which will be combined with battery storage.

Solarcentury will design the systems and will be the EPC contractor (engineer, procure, construct), also with responsibility for operation and maintenance for the next five years.

The project will be delivered by Solarcentury’s East Africa office, comprising a team of eight based in Nairobi, with support from the head office team in the UK.

“Through this project, icipe’s goal is to create a sustainable energy supply and to reduce diesel fuel dependency by constructing solar photovoltaic power plants at its Duduville Campus headquarters in Kasarani, Nairobi, and at the icipe Thomas Odhiambo Campus on the shores of Lake Victoria,” said Dr Segenet Kelemu, icipe’s director general said.”

Funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the scheme is part of the icipe Greening Project, which, in addition to renewable energy, also includes energy saving initiatives and water conservation measures.

The overall aim is to reduce the organisation’s carbon footprint and make its operations more environmentally friendly.

“In the last two years in Kenya, we have built one of the largest solar farms in east Africa for a tea farm, as well as a solar carport on the roof of a mall in Nairobi,” said Guy Lawrence, a director at Solarcentury East Africa.

“Now we are bringing our world-class engineering expertise to develop three systems, including what we believe to be the largest battery storage system for solar in east Africa.”