Solar panels [photo:standard digital]
About 14 counties in the country are positioned to benefit from a World Bank-funded off-grid electrification project which will undergo an inspection from next month.
At least 1.3 million people in 277,000 households across the 14 counties are deemed to benefit from the project.This follows the approval of Sh 15.56 billion by the bank in July this year, and the financing agreement with the government of Kenya signed last month to fund the project, dubbed Off-grid Solar Access Project for Underserved Counties.According to the bank’s implementation status and results report released last week, the supervision mission for the 14 counties is set to kick off from November 20th to the 30th.According to the status report findings, the project is currently rated as substantial, based on different risk categories which include, but are not limited to, political and governance risk, environment and social risk, stakeholders’ risk and policy risks.The project, which is divided into four components, is aimed at increasing access to modern energy services in the underserved counties.These components include mini-grids for community facilities which are seen as a least cost off-grid electricity option, enterprises, and households to be funded to the tune of Sh4.15 billion, stand-alone solar systems and clean cooking solutions for households funded at a cost of Sh4.98 billion, stand-alone solar systems and solar water pumps for community facilities funded at a cost of Sh 4.15 billion and the implementation support and capacity building funded at a cost of Sh2.28 billion.The project comes at a time when demand for electricity moved up 7.8 percent as at June 30, as reported by Kenya Power last week during their investors’ briefing.