The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) will build battery storage for its maiden Sh8.8 billion (€60 million) solar power plant at the Seven Forks dams, allowing the firm to supply electricity to the national grid during peak demand.
Disclosures by the financier of the project, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) show the battery storage will have a capacity of 3MW/ 4.5MWh (Megawatt-hour), in what will most likely make it the second such facility in Kenya.
KenGen’s battery storage for its proposed 42.5 Megawatt (Mw) solar plant comes at a time the government has directed all new firms, seeking to set up wind and solar power plants in Kenya to include battery energy storage systems (BESSs) to ensure they support the grid during peak demand.
Unlike hydropower, geothermal, or thermal, solar power is intermittent and cannot be used when it is cloudy unless there are storage batteries.
“The 3MW/ 4.5MWh storage system will be the first battery storage device installed in Kenya, and will have a knock-on effect for the sector,” AFD says in the project’s disclosures.
The Ministry of Energy last year declared that all new solar and wind power plants seeking to ink power purchase deals with Kenya Power must have a BESS. This is to enhance stability of the grid and wean off reliance on thermal plants during peak demand.
The battery storage will allow KenGen to store power generated during the day and supply it to the national grid during peak demand, and further help cut reliance on thermal power plants which are expensive and dirty.
UK-based renewable power firm Globeleq is also seeking to build a similar storage facility for its 40-Mw solar plant in Malindi. The firm last year sought approval from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority to build a 52-megawatt Peak (MwP) battery storage.
In 2020, developers broke ground for the construction of a Sh5 billion 80Mw renewable power project in Meru County, with a battery storage component.
The PPP project dubbed the Meru Energy Park will combine solar, wind and battery storage and is co-owned by the Mregional government, Eurus Energy Holding Corp, a subsidiary of Toyota Tshusho Corporation and global renewable energy developers, Windlab.
The US Trade and Development Agency in 2029 also awarded a cash grant to Craftskills Energy Limited of Kenya for a feasibility study for the development of 50MW wind power plant with an integrated battery storage.
A successful delivery of the planned battery storage facilities would help Kenya Power to further reduce the level of electricity that it taps from thermal plants during peak demand and in turn help cool bills.
This is because thermal power plants are the most expensive sources of electricity to the national grid, and cutting them from the grid in the quest for reliable yet cheap electricity.
The lack of battery storage for the solar power plants in Kenya has made it impossible to rely on the plants and boost supply to the national grid when demand peaks.
Kenya has installed a solar power capacity of a combined 210MW across five plants. These are Garissa Solar with a capacity of 50Mw, while Cedate, Selenkei, Malindi, and Alten each have a capacity of 40Mw.
KenGen’s battery storage will be set up alongside the solar plant. Construction of the power plant is expected to end in 2027, paving the way for KenGen to supply the grid during peak demand.
The State-owned electricity generator is the single biggest supplier of electricity to Kenya Power. It supplied 8,383 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity to Kenya Power in the year that ended June 2024.
This (8,383 GWh) was 61 percent of the total 13,684 GWh that Kenya Power bought from local producers and imports in the period.