Country: Kenya

In Kenya, Alten Energías Renovables is expected to commission its 40 MW Kesses 1 solar PV plant in the spring this year. The company is currently constructing the facility outside of Eldoret in Kenya. It is located only 1km away from the existing Eldosol and Radiant solar plants of Frontier Energy, each equipped with a solar power generation capacity of 40 MW. Together, they form what is known as the Eldoret Solar City, and one of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest solar complexes. Kesses 1 is notably financed by the Standard Bank of South Africa and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG). Standard Bank is supplying $41 million in debt comprising a term loan, VAT and Debt Service Reserve facility. Meanwhile, the EAIF is providing a US$35 million loan over a 15-year term. “The first part of the loan was disbursed to Alten Kenya Solarfarms BV (Alten), the Kenyan business of the Alten Group, in late December 2021,” the EAIF said in a statement last week. Kesses 1 is being developed in parallel with the 50 MW Kopere Solar PV Plant located 60km away, as both projects are executed by the same contractor, Voltalia. Full details on the solar power plants within Kenya’s Eldoret Solar City are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

Pan-African infrastructure investment platform Africa50 and the Power Grid Corporation of India (POWERGRID) have signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) for the continued development of the Kenya Transmission Project. The 400 kV Lessos-Loosuk and 200 Kv Kisumu-Musaga transmissions lines are being developed in Western Kenya on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis. Africa50 and POWERGRID are developing, financing, constructing and operating both lines, which form Kenya’s first independent power transmission venture. The project represents Africa’s first financing of transmission lines on a PPP basis and could pave the way for additional private sector involvement in the continent’s energy infrastructure. “In this development partnership, POWERGRID, one of the world’s leading electric transmission utility companies will provide technical and operational know-how to the project, while Africa50 will bring its project development and finance expertise and will act as a bridge between the Kenyan government and private investors,” Africa50 said.

During the COP26 this week in Glasgow, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor CDC Group has made an investment commitment of over £3 billion to support emerging economies in Africa and Asia to combat the climate emergency. The funds will mostly be channeled into Africa and select South Asian markets and are part of the UK’s Clean Green Initiative announced earlier this week by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. CDC’s investment is targeting key sectors such as renewable power, infrastructure and agriculture, including forestry. As a result, the group notably expects to double the size of its funded renewable energy capacity and grow its share of renewables within its energy portfolio from 32% to 70% within the next five years. CDC’s commitment is notably supported by the £200 million Climate Innovation Facility announcement by the UK Government at COP26. The first beneficiary is Kenya-based agritech business Pula, a company that is piloting a new “Pay-at-Harvest” insurance product. Additional investments in Africa announced by the CDC at COP26 this week include a $37m investment in Africa Renewable Energy Fund II, and a $10 million of follow up investment in M-Kopa, the Kenyan off-grid solar company that provides vital power for homes and communities in rural locations,

Earlier this month, the shareholders of Kipeto Energy Plc arranged a $10m pioneering loan agreement with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to finance human-wildlife initiatives around Kenya’s second biggest wind farm. The 100 MW Kipeto wind energy facility started commercial operations earlier this year and is developed by BTE Renewables, an Actis company, along with its local partner Craftskills Wind Energy International. The arrangement of this new loan is a first for Africa’s wind power industry and will see the implementation of several conservation initiatives, further demonstrating new models of funding for the sector. The funding will notably support the project’s biodiversity action plan (BAP) that seeks to improve the livelihoods of the Kajiado communities by creating jobs and building improved predator-proof animal enclosures for local farmers. “BTE and TNC designed the investment via a $10 million fixed-rate mezzanine loan to the project, alongside a commitment by the project to provide annual funding for critical conservation initiatives throughout the life of the wind power project,” BTE Renewables said in a statement. Full details on the Kipeto Wind Farm are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

The 100 MW Kipeto wind farm has officially achieved commercial operations date as of Monday, July 5th. Majority-owned by Actis (88%) via BTE Renewables, Kipeto Energy is Kenya’s second largest wind energy facility after the Lake Turkana one. Kipeto Energy was originally conceived by Kenyan company Craftskills Wind Energy International (CWEIL) with support from General Electric. The $320m project received a boost with the entry of African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) and IFC InfraVentures in the 2010s. Both entities co-developed the project with Craftskills from 2014 until early 2018, executing a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Kenya Power and Lighting in 2016. Financial close was successfully achieved with the exit of AIIM and IFC InfraVentures in 2018, whose interests in Kipeto Energy were acquired by Actis. The project is now owned and operated by BTE Renewables (88%), majority-owned by Actis with the rest of the equity in Kipeto Energy Plc still held by CWEIL (12%). Details on the Kipeto Wind Farm are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.