Solomon Mutua was a man in distress. On a 2-hectare plot of land on which he had planted French beans under irrigation last August, only dry stems remained.

Located in Wautu, a village in Makueni County in southeast Kenya, his farm has well-drained non-acidic soil, but the ever-erratic rains forced him to sink a borehole and purchase a water pump in 2018.

After paying large sums of money to get connected to the national electricity grid run by Kenya Power and Lighting Co., his efforts were rewarded the following year.

"I planted watermelons and cabbages in 2019 and got a profit of $4,000, which was good money [for me]. I thought I would be getting the same amount each year, but I was wrong," he said.

Reliable power source

Mutua's dream of owning a profitable agribusiness venture came crashing down when a transformer supplying electricity from the national grid to his water pump malfunctioned in August 2020, and his distress set in.

"[The transformer] took more than seven weeks to get repaired. During that period, all my crops dried up just when they were about to start forming pods. I had invested heavily on pesticides, fertilizer and labor. I had also paid the monthly electricity bill," he said.

In total, Mutua estimates he would have made profits of $6,000 in the region. This huge financial setback got him thinking. He needed electricity, but from a source that he could rely on.

Having done some research, he found that he was not the only person who suffered during the power outage. Metal welders, hair stylists and even grain millers who relied on grid power all suffered the same fate.

However, two weeks after the blackout, a welder in the village bought a solar power kit consisting of two solar panels, a dry cell battery to store the electricity, and a power inverter (a device that can convert the DC power produced by the solar panels and batteries to the AC power required by appliances and machines) that he used for business continuity.

"The good thing with this kind of electricity is that you are in control. The initial cost is affordable and I can do business during any weather," said Anthony Mulatya, the welding proprietor.

Inspired by the welder's initiative, Mutua jumped on the solar bandwagon and said goodbye to the national grid electricity supply. He invested $400 to purchase a solar power system kit.

Early in December last year when the rains disappeared for five weeks, he used solar energy to power his irrigation system. Unfortunately, he had only planted maize, as he had no funds with which to buy the seeds for more profitable crops due to the August financial loss.

"When I get back on my feet, I will now plant what I want. I have learnt a tough lesson," said Mutua.

Solar power jobs

Solar power systems have grown in popularity in Makueni County, thanks to the availability of panels, inverters and batteries in major shopping centers. Word of mouth from satisfied users has also helped.

"More people are buying these solar sets because they are now available. I import them from China and sell them at an affordable price," said Dennis Muli, a solar kit vendor in Emali Town. Many such vendors say they source their kits from China.

For Jennifer Mutuku, who for several decades has depended on kerosene and pressure lamps for lighting, life has become easier after she purchased a solar powered light that comes with a radio and television set.

"Kerosene is expensive and it emits dangerous gas when closing the lamp. I decided to buy solar energy for a cleaner environment," said the mother of three, who lives 22 km from the national power grid.

As solar power has gained in popularity in rural Kenya, so too has job opportunities been created in the form of solar installations and maintenance.

"Every week, I receive a call to install solar systems across the county. The job has become more sustainable as I no longer need to search for a job in Nairobi," said James Musau, who installed solar systems for 23 families in 2020 alone.

The demand for solar power consultants has also led to the mushrooming of training centers for electrical installations, employing an increasing number of trainers.

The ongoing lack of reliability of Kenya Power and Lighting Co., coupled with the dangers of open live wire power connections, has made electricity from Kenya's power grid less of an attractive option for both rural and urban consumers. The hiking of power bills and changes to billing practices has also been confusing.

Gaining traction

According to the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census report released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, solar lighting in the country averages 19.3 percent connectivity, with rural areas recording above average rates of connectivity of 29.9 percent, higher than the rural national grid connections that stood at 26 percent.

The same report showed that over 70 percent of households in 20 counties in Kenya did not have access to the grid and, in nine counties, this number was over 80 percent.

In 2018, Kenya adopted the very progressive National Electrification Strategy, which provides for an integrated electrification approach.

The approach ensures all citizens will be served through the most appropriate technologies, be it the national grid, mini-grids or stand-alone solar solutions, delivered either by the public sector, the private sector or through public-private partnerships.

"The strategy identifies that nearly 2 million households in Kenya will be served through solar home systems," said Patrick Tonui, Head of Policy and Regional Strategy at GOGLA, the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry.

Caroline Kimathi, Principal Officer of Renewable Energy at the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) in Kenya, said last December that the country generates approximately 200 MW of electricity from harnessing the sun's energy.

"Private investors have received approval to build two solar electric plants at 40 MW each that will be operational in 2021," Kimathi told a forum on reviewing a draft regulation on solar energy. Several companies, universities and factories have turned to solar photovoltaic grid-tied systems to supply power for internal use to ensure reliable supply and reduced operational costs.

According to Tonui, Kenya is a pace-setter in off-grid solar solutions, and in 2019, it was estimated that there were some 5 million pico solar products (solar generators used to provide indoor lighting in off-grid locations) and 700,000 solar home systems in use by Kenyan households.

Underlying these numbers is a fact well-known by industry practitioners: The national grid only reaches about 50 percent of Kenyan households, with 25 percent of households being served by solar energy, according to the census report.

The lithium battery technology has become more efficient, with countries around the world installing huge battery power stations.

"China has perfected the art and science of making solar panels en masse, bringing the prices crashing [down] worldwide," said Tonui.

Nickson Bukachi, Senior Renewable Energy Officer at the EPRA, said that Kenya is planning to review the solar legal framework to boost its uptake among households and the industrial sector.

The sector has also seen the emergence of a number of innovative products. One such is the M-KOPA project to enable more and more Kenyans to embrace solar energy. Its basic model is to make solar power products affordable to low-income households through a "pay-per-use" instalment plan.

With the input from the government, the private sector and also the innovations being made in the energy sector, solar energy is indeed the next frontier in Kenya's renewable energy sector.

Charles Keter, Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum, said that the growth of the solar energy sector is anchored on the Kenya National Electrification Strategy that seeks to facilitate universal access to electricity by 2022. 

Reporting from Kenya

(Print Edition Title: Here Comes the Sun)

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