Kenya launches Chinese-built 50MW solar power plant

• 4 years ago (2019-12-16)
• David Flin

Africa 306 Solar 249

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Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has opened a 50MW solar power farm in Garissa, in the northeast of the country. The plant is currently one of the largest solar power plants in Africa. The project was designed and built by the EPC contractor China Jiangxi Corporation for International Economic and Technical Cooperation (CJIC), in conjunction with Kenya’s Rural Energy Authority (REA).

At the launch, Kenyatta said that the power plant is part of a broad government renewable energy strategy to harvest 400MW from Kenya’s vast solar potential. He announced that Garissa, formally dependent on local thermal power, was now fully connected to the national grid.

The project was funded through an agreement between the Governments of Kenya and China, with China provided the technology and equipment.