Garissa Solar Power Station

Garissa Power Station is a 55 MW (74,000 hp) solar power plant in Kenya.[2]

Garissa Solar Power Station
CountryKenya
LocationGarissa, Garissa District
Coordinates0.34000°S 39.60078°E / -0.34000; 39.60078
StatusOperational
Construction began2017
Commission date2018[1]
Owner(s)Kenya Rural Electrification Authority
Solar farm
TypeFlat-panel PV
Power generation
Nameplate capacity55 MW (74,000 hp)

Location

The power station is located in Garissa County about 20 kilometres (12 mi), north of the town of Garissa.[2] This is approximately 385 kilometres (239 mi) by road, north-east of Nairobi, the country's capital and largest city.[3]

Overview

The solar farm sits on 85 hectares (210 acres) and consist of 200,200 solar panels and is expected to be the largest in East and Central Africa. It is expected to create about 1,000 jobs during the construction period.[4] The power from this power station is enough to power about 625,000 homes.[5]

The power station is owned and operated by Kenya Rural Electrification Authority, a government agency. The power generated will be sold to Kenya Power and Lighting for integration into the national grid.[4] In February 2018, the Business Daily Africa, reported that the expected commissioning of this power plant had been pushed back to December 2018, following delays.[1] The solar park sells electricity wholesale to Kenya Power at Sh5.49 per unit.[6] The power purchase agreement, signed in September 2016, calls for Kenya Power to sell electricity from the solar plant at KSh12 (US$0.12) per kilowatt hour, approximately KSh8 cheaper than diesel-generated electricity.[1]

Construction timeline, costs, and funding

China Jiangxi, a Chinese construction company was awarded the construction contract at a budgeted cost of KSh13.7 billion ($135.7 million), borrowed from Exim Bank of China. Construction was expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2016 and was expected to last one year.[4] Due to prolonged negotiations in securing a power purchase agreement from Kenya Power and Lighting, construction of this project was delayed. As of February 2018, commissioning of the power station was expected in December 2018.[1] In August 2018, The EastAfrican reported that the new commissioning date had been brought forward to September 2018.[7] The solar power plant was officially launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta on December 13th 2019.[8]

See also

References
  1. Igadwah, Lynet (22 February 2018). "Garissa-based 55MW solar farm starts operations in December". Business Daily Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  2. Otuki, Neville (31 March 2016). "REA to build Sh12.8 billion solar farm in Garissa". Business Daily Africa. Nairobi. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  3. Globefeed.com (30 September 2016). "Distance between Nairobi, Nairobi County, Kenya and Garissa, Garissa County, Kenya". Globefeed.com. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  4. Otuki, Neville (29 September 2016). "Kenya's largest solar plant inks power sale deal". Business Daily Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  5. Merab, Elizabeth (31 March 2016). "Sh12 billion solar project given green light". Daily Nation. Nairobi. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  6. "China's link in 55MW Garissa solar plant". Energy Siren. February 16, 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-04-18. Retrieved 2019-03-16. The solar park sells electricity wholesale to Kenya Power at Sh5.49 per unit for onward distribution to homes and businesses.
  7. Olingo, Allan (6 August 2018). "How solar energy is powering off-grid areas in East Africa and lighting up lives". The EastAfrican. Nairobi. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  8. "President Uhuru launches Sh13b solar power plant". Standard Media. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
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