There is more wind energy than solar in northern Kenya

By MUNGAI KIHANYA

The Sunday Nation

Nairobi,

02 August 2009

Last week’s article generated varied reactions from readers: shock, disbelief, and even anger. Some one even accused me of lying to the public by saying that solar electricity is not good for Kenya. While I have replied individually to all those who wrote in, I feel compelled to clarify the point that I was making.

This is that solar electricity is too expensive when compared to conventional grid power. Thus for a country with meagre financial resources like Kenya, it would not be wise to sink a lot of money in building large scale solar power plants. Indeed, even stand-alone domestic photovoltaic units are also too costly.

Now that seems unconvincing: if they are too expensive, why is it that very many rural homes have installed solar power systems? Isn’t it because connecting to the KPLC not affordable for them?

I know two people who took that decision: the first one was given a Sh1.25 million estimate by KPLC to connect to the grid while the second one was asked for Sh765,000. Both opted to spend between Sh50,000 and Sh70,000 in installing solar electric systems.

It sounds cheaper at first sight, but not so much when you consider its limitations. The system can only be used for lighting, listening to the radio and watching a 16-inch TV…for a few hours a night. They cannot plug in other modern day appliances like fridges and electric irons.

The KPLC connection is expensive because there is a serious problem with the way the company recovers the installation costs. It charges the full cost to the first person who applies for power in a particular area even though the equipment they install (transformers, cables, circuit breakers etc) can easily supply power to 50 or more households.

Thus, the person asked to pay Sh1.25 million would have been sold a system that ca support, say 50 homes. Therefore the cost per home come down to just over Sh20,000. Clearly, this is far much cheaper than the solar option.

This method of collecting the connection fees is quite simply ridiculous! The company sells you some gadgets and you pay the full cost; after installation, it erects a sign that reads “Property of KPLC”…and then goes ahead to use the same equipment to supply your neighbours with power without any further reference to you.

It is no wonder then that, as one reader pointed out, “40 years after independence, there are less than a million grid power connections accounting for less than 25 percent of the population”.

Still, the question remains: is solar power the best alternative? How does it compare with other renewable energy sources?

A 500-watt wind turbine costs about Sh150,000 to install. This includes the purchase price of the turbine-plus-generator unit and the erection of the support mast. A similar capacity solar panel will cost between Sh150,000 and Sh200,000 depending on the kind of technology it is manufactured with.

The prices of the two are in the same range, but the wind turbine has greater “availability” than the solar panel. Wind can blow any time, day or night, while the sun is only available at daytime.

When this “availability” is taken into account, it turns out that there is more wind energy than solar power in the hot northern and eastern parts of Kenya.