Renewvia Energy Commissions Microgrid Facilities

• Renewvia Energy of America has commissioned two solar powered microgrid projects in Kenya
• A 10 kW system has been installed in the island of Ndeda and another 20 kW in Ringiti Island, together bringing clean energy to some 10,000 inhabitants
• These projects are first of the eight new microgrid plants that Renewvia was entrusted with conducting national solar microgrid feasibility study for, by the USTDA under Power Africa initiative in 2017

US company Renewvia Energy Corporation has successfully commissioned its first two microgrid facilities in the Kenyan islands of Ndeda and Ringiti in Lake Victoria region. These facilities are first of the eight new microgrid plants with 1.5 MW of total capacity that it was entrusted with conducting a national solar microgrid feasibility study for, under an arrangement with the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) for remote regions of Kenya. The partnership announced in 2017 was under the aegis of Power Africa initiative.

The first microgrid with 10 kW solar and battery power capacity on Ndeda Island was commissioned in June 2018. The other 20 kW facility came online in Ringiti Island in August 2018.

With both these facilities online, some 10,000 people here can now use clean energy instead of using harmful kerosene, petrol and disposable batteries for their electricity needs, according to Renewvia.

Each of these facilities come with the company's mobile payment platform that uses M-PESA and the Commercial Bank of Africa to facilitate the transactions, something that Renewvia believes will help engage local community and ensure continued revenue stream from individual community inhabitants and local businesses.

"Within the first few weeks of turning on the power, we had several members from the community and business subscribers signing-up and pre-paying to be connected," said Pam Onyanyo, director and head of Renewvia's Kenya operations. "We expect to see exponential growth over the next 12 months, and with several other microgrid facilities in the works, this is just the beginning."

Commercial and community solar installer Renewvia is now exploring more than 100 solar microgrid development sites in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda.