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StoriesJanuary 13, 2022
Kenya Energy: Ashut to Cut Power Bills Thanks to Spenomatic Solar’s Innovative PV Solution
- Written by Sandra Francisco
- Published: January 13, 2022
Spenomatic Solar is the leading EPC provider of solar photovoltaic solutions in East Africa, with the goal to empower the whole continent with sustainable solutions in the energy and environment sector. The company’s first solar PV project was one of the largest roof mounted systems in Kenya: a 1400 KW plant for Ashut, a manufacturing company specializing in plastic, steel, wood, and aluminum products, based in Nairobi. This was a tremendous achievement for Spenomatic for a variety of reasons.
First, the company expanded from mechanical engineering into electrical engineering, which meant an entirely new skill set was needed to execute projects successfully. Additionally, Spenomatic was entering a market in which there was already much competition. Despite these challenges, they were awarded the largest solar PV plant in the private sector, at the time, depicting exactly how much trust and faith customers have in the company. As a result of such a huge and successful installation, the solar photovoltaic solutions provider grew to a total of 25 MW worth of solar PV solutions in a very short period of time.
Amongst other things, Ashut is present in the plastic injection molding and plastic blow molding industries, which are quite intensive industries in terms of electrical energy usage, consuming 5 MW of power daily. With electricity costs perpetually increasing in Kenya, the customer was finding it difficult to meet their demand at a price that their consumers were willing to pay. With this in mind, they started looking at cost cutting opportunities. They discovered solar PV solutions and had already received various quotes. However, the size of the system being quoted was a mere 800 to 900 KW due to their limited roof space.
At the time, Spenomatic Solar was very new to the industry and was called in for an evaluation due to its long-standing relationship with Ashut who had tremendous trust in the company’s engineering capabilities and gave them the project to execute. During the analysis and system design stage, Spenomatic Solar found an opportunity to provide the larger capacity needed for the project. A thorough roof analysis with a skilled team showed areas that could be utilized which previously were not evaluated and, given the company’s vision, they brought in only Tier 1 products with higher ratings for all components of the plant. This allowed them to provide a system size of 1400 KW within the same area.
This installation had great impact, not only for Ashut, but also on the African solar industry as a whole.
2.1 million units of electricity are generated annually by this solar PV plant, thereby allowing a savings of more than 30 million Kenyan Shillings per annum on power cost. Such savings means lower cost of goods and ultimately lower prices for the end consumer.
Initially, there was some fear amongst several manufacturers that having a rooftop mounted system could compromise their operations due to the work on the roof during installation (fear of falling materials on to the manufacturing processing area) and also due to potential system failures. After witnessing the success of such a huge rooftop plant, several manufacturers within the industry were reassured that no such issues existed.
The plant works in tandem with the grid, which therefore poses no issues of potential downtime, and the installation procedure does not involve drilling on the roof, so the fear of falling materials was also alleviated. Moreover, Spenomatic Solar uses walkways on site, making it a safe environment for maintenance thereafter and without interference in day-to-day operations. This gave confidence to various commercial and industrial players to go green, which means a greener carbon footprint across the continent.
This plant alone will reduce over 45,000 tons of CO2 over its lifetime. Given the success of the project, coupled with the eagerness of several C&I players to onboard solar PV solutions, Africa’s carbon footprint will only become better over time.
ABOUT SPENOMATIC SOLAR: Established in Kenya in 1998, Spenomatic is a group of over 200 technocrats from diverse fields, contributing to empower Africa in the energy and environment sector. It is the current market leader in providing solar photovoltaic solutions in East Africa, with more than 50 million KW of cumulative energy installations across the group, and is slowly expanding its base across the continent. For more information, please click on the video below and visit: https://spenomaticsolar.com.
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