Kenya Power, which trades under the KPLC ticker on the Nairobi Security Exchange -NSE, is in advanced stages of ceasing control over the rapidly growing solar energy industry across the country.
In the latest set of regulations published by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), the power distributor was tasked with the sole task of determining which companies and individuals will supply their excess solar energy to the national grid.
This will allow the households and companies to enter into 10-year contracts with Kenya Power to supply the power at prices determined by the distribution company.
The new development already caused disquiet in some quarters who argue that the power company will have an unfair advantage in determining supplier prices, a move that could see their solar energy undervalued.
The new agreement targets households producing solar energy but lack the means to store the excess power they produce, opening a window into a partnership with the power distributor.
“The licensee (Kenya Power) shall examine all applications in Regulation 7 within sixty (60) days and on a non-discriminatory basis,” the EPRA statement read in part.
Kenya Power is still playing catch up in the solar business field after numerous companies, which are primarily seen as biggest electricity consumers, installed their own solar power has significantly reducing their dependence on that supplied by Kenya Power.
In the same regulations, EPRA announced that a section of Kenyans would be allowed to sell their power to their neighbours provided the production does not exceed a megawatt.
The regulations upon approval will cover energy produced from biogas, hydropower, geothermal and solar.
However, Kenyans willing to sell power will have to enter into an agreement with the government before being allowed to connect their power to the grid.
In 2017, Kenya Power launched the Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project (KOSAP) aimed at installing solar panels to provide energy in homes not covered by the National grid.
“In has been difficult to connect these counties since the transformers we install can serve only 50 to 100 people within a radius of 600 meters and this has made it a bit expensive to connect every area of these counties to the national grid since they are very vast," stated a Kenya Power staffer at the time.
The six-year project is expected to run until June 2023 and is being financed by the World Bank as well as a grant from the Carbon Initiative for Development.
