(Ecofin Agency) - The Kenyan government plans to leverage mini-renewable-energy-grids to electrify up to 14,000 households by the end of the year under the national Green Mini Grid (GMG) Facility Kenya program.

The program designed by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) will be implemented by three companies including RVE.SOL, PowerGen Renewable Energy and Powerhive. To this end, the firms received about $6 million from DFID to deploy mini-grids in dozens of villages located in four counties in the western part of the country. Mini-grids are cheaper compared to traditional power plants and, most importantly, they are much quicker to deploy. They can be used in remote areas, speeding up the national electricity coverage process.

“The mini-grid sector is still nascent, and the level of understanding from the financial sector is very limited. We need grants to lower capital costs and scale so we can ultimately offer a higher return that can attract commercial project debt,” said Vivian Vendeirinho, RVE.SOL’s managing director.

Gwladys Johnson Akinocho