Producers in biggest black tea exporter Kenya seek solar developers

Tea producers in Kenya, the world’s largest exporter of the black variety of the leaves, plan to develop solar-power plants in a drive to support their operations with renewable energy.

KTDA Power Co., a unit of Kenya Tea Development Agency, concluded a solar study at 29 factories and is now seeking power-plant developers. Power producers have until March 30 to submit expressions of interest to finance, install and operate the plants, whose capacity will be as much as 1 megawatt, the agency said in a statement in Nairobi-based Standard newspaper.

“The intention is to aggregate between five and 10 projects, which the successful independent power producer will then develop,” according to the statement. “The IPP will enter into a power purchasing agreement with the respective factory to purchase the generated energy.”

Small and large tea producers are turning to independent renewable power to cut reliance on the national grid—which exposes them to price volatility—and reduce their environmental footprint. In 2019, Unilever Tea Kenya commissioned a 619 kWp solar plant at its factory in Kericho county in the Kenyan Rift Valley.

KTDA, which accounts for about 60% of Kenya’s tea output, has 14 hydropower plants at various stages of implementation, according to it latest annual report. It processes and markets leaf for more than 630,000 small-holder farmers.