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impasse. (EEP) Phases II and III components of both the five-year project, supported by the World
“You have to examine the national the WB and the AfDB, while $20m dollars Bank to the tune of KES15bn.
transmission utility license granted GRIDCo is for the productive use component of the It is being implemented by the Ministry of
and establish whether that license allows AfDB, as well as $37m dollars for technical Energy, Kenya Power and Lighting Company
GRIDCo to sell to retailers. assistance. and Rural Electrification and Renewable
“It is crucial because increasingly ECG “The objective of the project is to provide Energy Corporation. The third component
is agitated that GRIDCo is stealing ECG clean, safe, reliable and affordable electricity of the project is standalone solar systems and
customers and that partly is because of our access to a minimum of 2.5mn Nigerians solar water pumps for community facilities.
tariff system which allows for industrial tariff which equates to about 500,000 households. KOSAP seeks to have 250,000 households
and others which allows customers to run “A breakdown of what the programme served by stand-alone solar systems and
to GRIDCo for a cheaper rate and especially has achieved so far is in the signing of 150,000 households served by Clean Cooking
if you are an industrialist you want to get grant agreements under the mini-grid Solutions by the end of the project in 2023.
cheaper tariff so that must be looked at,” he sub-component, with 13 companies for the KOSAP further seeks to construct 157 mini-
assured. deployment of solar mini-grids across 86 sites grids in the targeted counties that will be used
But as the boardroom wrangling continues, in off-grid communities,” he said. to connect about 61,500 households with solar
the energy minister is unhappy several Abubakar added that REA had deployed power. Similarly, about 473 public facilities,
months after parliament approved the Gridco and commissioned seven solar hybrid mini- including secondary schools, health clinics as
Siemens 250mn euros deal to improve grids with a total connection of 3,828 and well as administrative offices will be supplied
power transmitting lines in the middle belt; 529.79 kW energy capacity. with solar power under the project. Some 380
contractual disagreement has stalled the He said that the agency also signed grant boreholes that currently use diesel and other
project. agreements with 26 companies under the fuels will also benefit from the installation of
The deal part of the 1bn euros Germany Output Based Fund (OBF) sub-component of solar power.
Africa Compact is expected to cover the the standalone solar home systems for homes The off-grid solar market continues to
system’s expansion to prepare it for possible and MSMEs. be a key plank towards achieving the UN’s
power evacuation to neighbouring countries. ”REA has also installed 221,971 Solar Sustainable Development Goal Seven -
President Akufo Addo, who supervised the Home Systems (SHS) in households, micro, Universal Access to Energy for all by 2030.
signing agreement in January 2020, said the small, and medium enterprises as well as In Kenya, a strategy to deliberately tap and
project was a significant development in the public facilities. optimise alternative sources of energy such
country’s energy sector because retooling and “The Rural Electrification Agency (REA), as the sun has been put in place to ensure
refitting the transmission and the grid systems through the Nigeria Electrification Project Kenyans living in counties outside the better
across the country were crucial. (NEP), has been providing off-grid solutions served central corridor also have access to
to bridge the electricity gap in unserved and modern energy.
underserved rural communities. A number of factors favour the optimal
“This includes households, micro, small, harnessing of solar energy for use by
ELECTRIFICATION and medium enterprises, Federal Universities, households and community facilities.
as well as healthcare centres across the six According to World Bank’s Global Solar Atlas,
Nigeria borrows $550mn geopolitical zones of the country, with the Kenya ranks among the highest irradiance or
solar yield in Africa.
financial support of the WB and the AfDB,
from World Bank, AfDB for respectively. stand-alone solar photovoltaic systems
Secondly, Kenya has a well-developed
rural electrification OFF- GRID market, which has in the last two decades
become a magnet for investors. While this
Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency (REA) Kenya develops off-grid market started being nurtured in the mid-
has announced the provision of $550mn 1980s, its development received renewed
in funding by the World Bank (WB) and access momentum when Kenya was chosen as one
the African Development Bank (AfDB) to of the two pilot countries for the World Bank’s
support the implementation of its off-grid Kenya Off-grid Solar Access Project (KOSAP) Lighting Africa project.
solution projects. is seeking to provide modern energy solutions Fronted by the World Bank and its private
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to communities in underserved and off-grid sector lending wing, the International Finance
has announced the provision of $550mn areas. Corporation (IFC), Lighting Africa was the
in funding by the World Bank (WB) and KOSAP is being implemented in 14 first private-sector oriented effort to leverage
the African Development Bank (AfDB) to counties; Kwale, Kilifi, Taita Taveta, Tana new light-emitting diode (LED) lighting
support the implementation of its off-grid Tiver, Garissa, Mandera, Wajir, Marsabit, technologies to build sustainable markets
solution projects. Turkana, West Pokot, Samburu, Narok, Lamu to provide modern, safe, affordable off-grid
Mr Ahmed Abubakar, Communication and Isiolo. lighting to communities that lack access to
Expert, REA, who made this known in a It will operate in Kenya’s Standalone Solar grid electricity.
statement in Abuja, on Monday, added that Systems (SSS) market is marked by unique, KOSAP
out of the amount, $213mn dollars was for the investor-fronted innovations that include
mini-grid components of both the WB and efficient supply channels for the cash sale of
the AfDB, while $75mn was for standalone portable lanterns and SSS for households; the
solar home systems component of the WB. deployment of Pay-As-You-Go systems.
He further explained that $205m dollars Tellingly, SSS and clean cooking solutions
was for Energising Education Programme for households are an integral component of

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