Africa-Press – Kenya. Players in the energy space are now saying that Kenya will need to ramp up its investment in solar over the short term to meet the rising power needs.
The renewable energy project manager for Eastern Africa at the German Industry and Commerce in Kenya, Georg Pflom said that the moratorium on signing new Power Purchase Agreements placed in 2019 slowed down the energy investments.
Following the move there were delays in new generation projects, leaving the country with limited options to quickly add capacity.
Kenya lifted its seven-year moratorium on new Power Purchase Agreements November 2025.
According to Pflom, speaking ahead of the Inter Solar Africa 2026 Exhibition next month, solar power is increasingly seen as the most viable stopgap to meet rising demand and ease persistent power shortages.
He points out that other energy sources such as geothermal and hydropower, while critical to Kenya’s long-term energy mix, typically take several years to develop and commission.
“There is currently a challenge in terms of power availability in Kenya, which is why we are seeing load shedding. In the evenings, particularly between 6pm and 10pm, some consumers do not get electricity because supply is simply not sufficient for everyone,” said Pflom.
He pointed out that unlike other states like Egypt or South Africa where solar uptake is wide, in Kenya the generation is mainly driven by commercial and industrial entities.
Kenya, by contrast, has seen strong growth in the commercial and industrial solar segment, with many companies installing solar and storage systems to secure cheaper and more reliable electricity.
To increase its generation capacity as quickly as possible to overcome the shortages, he argues that solar energy offers the fastest and cheapest pathway to do so.
The International Energy Association (IEA) projects that solar power is expected to grow at an annual rate of 28 percent between 2025 and 2027, toppling wind which has posted faster growth over the last six years.
As the price of electricity in Kenya continues to skyrocket, driven by higher tarrifs that drive up the cost many customers in Kenya -including corporates and households – have increasingly resorted to alternative sources.
This boosted by the fact that over the past decade, the cost of solar technology has fallen sharply, making it one of the most affordable sources of electricity globally.
“Solar can be installed very quickly. Developing a geothermal plant or a hydropower dam can take many years, but a solar power plant can be built in a matter of months,” he said.
However, Pflom noted that solar power comes with the challenge of intermittency, as production drops during cloudy conditions and falls to zero at night, even as demand peaks in the evening hours.
This weakness, he said, can be addressed through energy storage solutions such as batteries, which allow excess electricity generated during the day to be stored and dispatched later when demand is high. The main obstacle is not technology, but regulation.
“Kenya is still developing a framework on how energy storage should be managed and paid for. Because this mechanism is not yet fully developed, developers are hesitant to invest in storage, which in turn slows down the deployment of more solar,” he added.
He added that once a clear policy and payment structure for storage is in place, it will be easier for investors to roll out solar projects at scale and better manage intermittency.
Data from Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority shows that as of June 2025, Kenya’s installed electricity capacity stood at 3,840.8MW, comprising 3,192.0MW interconnected, 603.8MW captive and 45.0MW off-grid.
Geothermal leads with 25.9 per cent of installed capacity, followed by hydro (24.0 per cent), thermal (17.2 per cent), solar PV (14.1 per cent), and wind (12.0 per cent).
