David Waiganjo

Kenya has been ranked as a lower middle-income country with its GDP growth averaged over 5% for the last decade. The goal however, is to transform Kenya into a newly industrialized middle-income country by the year 2030, providing a high quality of life to all its citizens. This is in line with ‘Kenya vision 2030’. The Vision 2030 identifies energy and electricity as a key element of Kenya’s sustained economic growth and transformation. According to the Kenya ‘LEAST COST POWER DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2021-40’, Peak demand is projected to grow at an average of 5.3% from the current 1,972MW to 5,526MW at the end of the planning period under the Reference scenario. This creates a need to address the projected Large energy gap and Nuclear energy has been identified as one of the sources of energy that would substantially address the projected future energy gap. The Nuclear Power and Energy Agency, established under the Energy Act 2019, is the corporation charged with the responsibility of promoting and implementing Kenya’s Nuclear Power Programme, carrying out research and development for the energy sector. In the FY 2021/2022, the Agency under the Electric Grid TWG undertook an economic analysis for the Grid Upgrade of the offsite power system. The target Network was proposed to terminate at Mariakani Substation from either the proposed or alternate sites. The analysis was conducted for both sites and considered the switchyard, the transmission system (grid) and the termination at Mariakani substation for power evacuation. This project was to built upon the previous study focusing on conducting an economic analysis of an alternate target network terminating at Malaa Substation in Nairobi from both sites. Moreover, the project also aimed at sizing the preferred, Back-up and DC power systems for the Kenya Nuclear Power Plant. The preferred, Back-up and DC power systems form part of the onsite power system of a Nuclear Power Plant. The onsite power system plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety and operational stability of a Nuclear Power Plant during various anticipated operational occurrences or accident conditions. It serves the vital purpose of bringing the plant to a controlled state and maintaining it in a safe condition until off-site power supplies can be restored. In order to effectively fulfill the assigned house load functions, it becomes imperative to appropriately size the onsite power supplies. This includes the preferred, back-up and DC power Systems. Proper sizing of each system ensures that they can meet the necessary power demands and maintain the plant's safety and operational requirements.

Centralized solar power system refers to a large-scale solar plant installation to produce large amount of electricity. Like the conventional national grid system, Centralized solar farms need the same infrastructure which includes electrical substations and transmission lines to be run over long distances, to get that clean solar power to the consumer. The main disadvantage of this system is sometimes efficiency and voltages are lost, when electricity has to travel long distances. Decentralized solar power system is the opposite of centralized system. Decentralized solar plant, refers to solar energy solution that produce energy onsite, or near-site. For some cases, in this system there are less or no voltage losses as no transmission line is required to reach electricity to the consumers. The Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project (K-OSAP) is a flagship Project of the Ministry of Energy, financed by the World Bank and jointly implemented by the Ministry of Energy, Kenya Power and Lighting Company and Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC) which aims to increase access to modern energy services in the marginalized regions. The project will target 14 out of the 47 counties in Kenya that have been defined as marginalized. These counties are West Pokot, Turkana, Marsabit, Samburu, Isiolo, Mandera, Wajir, Garrisa, Tana River, Lamu, Kilifi, Kwale, Taita Taveta and Narok. The 14 underserved counties collectively represent 72% of the country’s total land area and 20% of the total population. The population is highly dispersed at a density of 4 times lower than the national average. These counties are also characterized by infrastructural deficits, including lack of access to roads, electricity, water and social services. The project involved the analysis of both a centralized and decentralized solar mini grid solar system approach for the Kenya-off grid solar access Project. One mini-grid site was selected from the 14 target counties and analyzed for both approaches. By comparing the results, suitable recommendations were made for each system, identifying scenarios where each approach is most appropriate. It was also possible to accurately state which of the two systems is the most cost effective and economically viable for implementation. The results obtained from the entire Project would not only be applicable for The Kenya Off-grid Solar Access project (KOSAP) but also inform decisions for similar projects in the future.