The European Investment Bank will offer US $75m loan this year for construction of two solar power plants, underlining the growing interest by global organizations in financing Kenyan green projects.
The US $75m credit line would go to Radiant Energy and Eldosol Energy. They are owned by the same developers and whose solar projects are located next to each other in Eldoret. The two solar parks also have a capacity of 40MW each. According to EIB East Africa head Catherine Collin, the financing will be complete this year.
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Lower electricity cost
The solar plants will be connected to the national power grid, hence electricity will cost $0.12 per unit under Kenya’s feed-in-tariff for solar power.
According to EIB records, construction of the two solar farms will cost US $155m. This means the bank’s US $75m loan will cover only a fraction of the expenses. Therefore, the developers will raise the remaining US $80m through other avenues, including equity.
Radiant and Eldosol are owned by the same shareholders, including Danish firm DI Frontier Markets, Selenkei Investment and Cedate Ltd.
Currently, Strathmore University in Nairobi is the only institution that has connected its 0.6MW solar power plant to the national grid.
