Kenya’s Tatu City installs its first solar power plant.

Tatu City in Kenya has installed its first solar power plant. This is in line with the city’s long term commitment to environmental conversation through harnessing renewable energy sources.

Nick Langford, Head of Utilities for Rendeavour, Tatu City’s owner and developer announced the reports and said that the solar installation was in partnership with Equator Energy. “Solar power allows us to contribute to clean energy, which is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We are proud of this milestone and pleased to know that residents will enjoy sustained power supply at very minimal costs”.

First solar plant

The installation project consisted of mounting of 2,880 solar modules on 5,700 square meters of roof space at Dormans Coffee’s global headquarters at Tatu Industrial Park. The plant is expected to produce 1.4 million kilowatt-hours per year.

The solar plant whose installation took only six days will additionally reduce carbon dioxide emission by at least 1 million kilograms per year while providing 1 MW of electricity.

“The power produced from the solar panels will be distributed for use by homes and businesses within the city. We are excited to see it in operation and delivering cheaper and cleaner power to an entire city. We look forward to rolling out more solar power as Tatu City grows,” Equator Energy CEO Sebastian Noethlichs said.

Tatu Indusrial park

Tatu Industrial park is zoned for light, non-polluting industries and a number of international, regional and local companies are positioning their business at Tatu City for growth in East Africa and they include Dormans Coffee, Kim-Fay, Unilever, Chandaria Industries, Africa Logistics Properties, Freight Forwarder Kenya, Stecol, and Tianlong.

The industrial park is being constructed in ten phases until 2022, when it is set for completion. The mixed-use satellite city will house 77,000 residents, and will tap on the city economies in the country, amidst growing middle-class and urbanization trends. It will be a decentralized urban center.

Other developments projects in session at Tatu City include construction of schools by Nova Pioneer and Crawford International, as well as more than 5,000 homes under construction and development.

16 April 2019