On September 9, 2019, the US Trade and Development Agency awarded a grant to Kenya’s Craftskills Energy Limited for a feasibility study by an American firm, Delphos International for the development of a 50-megawatt(MW) wind power plant with integrated battery storage capacity in Kenya.
In addition to a wind resource assessment and plant design, the study team was mandated to explore a battery energy storage solution that would enhance the capacity of the power plant and stabilise the intermittency of wind power to the grid with a result that more power would be delivered to consumers at a competitive cost.
In 2020, developers under a public-private partnership (PPP) broke ground for the construction of a Sh15 billion 80Mw renewable power project in Meru County with a battery storage component.
The hybrid project dubbed ‘the Meru County Energy Park’ will be a large-scale facility that combines wind, solar PV, and battery storage. On completion, the facility is expected to feature up to 20 wind turbines and more than 40,000 solar panels.
The PPP project is jointly owned by the Meru County government, global renewable energy developers, Windlab, and Eurus Energy Holdings Corp, a subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corporation.
“As Kenya moves to implement the medium-term Big Four agenda, promotion of predictable and sustainable renewable energy is key to guarantee the successful realisation of the manufacturing pillar. The project would help shore up manufacturing in the country,” Windlab CEO Roger Price said during the groundbreaking for the project.
And last week, Kenya Power announced plans to set up a grid-level 100 MW lithium-ion battery energy storage system (ESS) by 2024 to store power at low demand to be used during peak power demand.
The utility firm says the system will store idle power generated by intermittent sources such as wind and solar when power demand is at a low level and inject it into the national power grid over four hours at peak demand before the batteries are recharged.
Ambitious project
Erastus Kiruja, the manager in charge of power systems planning at Kenya Power, said the company has commissioned a feasibility study funded by the World Bank to inform the planning and execution of the ambitious project.
“The ESS will be deployed at peak demand which will displace a significant amount of expensive thermal power from the grid which will lower electricity costs,” Mr Kiruja said.
These developments show a gradual shift by Kenya towards the Utility-Scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) technology concepts which have picked up pace globally as renewable energy generation expands.
Kenya Power projects that more than 480MW of BESS are required across different locations in the country, such as western Kenya, where there is inadequate transmission capacity at peak times as well as at substations along Kenya’s coast.
“Two-thirds of Kenya’s electricity is generated from renewable or clean energy sources. Of this, wind power accounts for 15 percent (435MW) while solar accounts for just under two percent of total installed capacity (51MW) with these numbers expected to continue to grow” the US International Trade Association said in a brief to American firms last year.
“The success in the growth of these two energy sources has inadvertently resulted in excess energy being generated during off-peak hours and increased intermittent capacity in the national grid, thus presenting a good opportunity for the introduction of battery storage to balance the demand and supply in the system” it added.
The Energy Ministry in its Least Cost Power Development Plan 2021-2030 (LCPDP) includes BESS as a key in supporting the integration of variable renewable energy technologies and system support.
It projects a BESS capacity of 50MW in 2022 and gradually rises to 250MW by 2030.
Solar projects
“Introduction of BESS helps to optimise the system by increasing the load during the off-peak and providing peaking capacity. Solar projects proposed as hybrids with storage components may be given priority in the selection of intermittent capacity as they can assist in system stabilisation” the ministry says in its LCPDP.
The BESS concept is fast catching up globally with data by the International Energy Agency(IEA) showing that battery storage capacity additions in 2020 rose to a record-high 5gigawatt(GW).
“Total installed battery storage capacity stood at around 17 GW as of the end of 2020. Installations rose 50 percent in 2020 compared with a mediocre 2019, when the installation rate was flat for the first time in a decade” it said.
“Globally, 5 GW of storage capacity were added in 2020, led by China and the United States, each registering gigawatt-scale additions. Utility-scale installations continue to dominate the market, accounting for around two-thirds of total added capacity” IEA added.
The question of power storage has become critical as Kenya embraces e-mobility which requires reliable power supplies. BY DAILY NATION