KENYA – Berlin-based solar company ecoligo, which implements solar projects in emerging markets, has commissioned Kenya’s first ever floating solar plant.
The 69 kWp system provides clean and affordable energy to the sustainable flower farm, Rift Valley Roses.
The solar plant floats on one of the farm’s water reservoirs, saving space and providing many other benefits in addition to renewable energy.
Rift Valley Roses has been pursuing the goal of sustainable, environmentally friendly production for years and in addition to rainwater catchment basins to reduce water consumption and biogas plants, the company has decided to switch to renewable energy.
The floating solar panels are complemented by a second solar plant with a capacity of 75 kWp, which has already been installed on the roof of the farm in 2019.
With these two installations, Rift Valley Roses will be able to meet 60 percent of the farm’s electricity needs through solar energy and annually, the system will thus save around 136 tons of CO2 emissions.
Stuart Miller, owner of Rift Valley Roses said, “We’ve been big fans of the technology since installing our first solar system in 2019 and have been able to significantly reduce our reliance on the local electricity utility since then. We’re proud to have this innovative system installed on our reservoir and hope to inspire other businesses to switch to this fantastic way of generating electricity as well.”
“Through our approach, we have already enabled many flower farms in Kenya to easily switch to solar power and benefit from day one. We believe that renewable energy can fundamentally change the industry by promoting sustainable growth and creating new jobs”
Martin Baart – CEO, ecoligo
Although the benefits of solar energy are obvious for sunny regions and companies like Rift Valley Roses, most solar projects are not realised due to a financing gap.
ecoligo overcomes this hurdle by financing the projects via crowdinvesting which gives private investors the chance to invest their money in sustainable projects, do something good for the environment, and even profit from it with a return of up to 7 percent per year.
So far, 62 solar projects have been financed by German investors via ecoligo investments.
To achieve quality in terms of efficiency, low-maintenance, and durability, ecoligo partnered with a local company Technolectric.
In addition to the companies Luxor (panels), KACO (inverters) and meteocontrol (technical remote monitoring system), the Spanish company Isigenere, which is developing the world’s first water-capable solar panels, has also contributed to the success of Kenya’s first floating solar plant.
Andrés Franco, CEO of Isigenere: “Our product Isifloating is a floating structure for photovoltaic panels specifically designed for water environments such as industrial water ponds, irrigation reservoirs, dams or natural water bodies. Its unique and patented high-quality floating technology enables the coverage of a partial or entire water surface, solving space problems in particular while providing reduced logistics and installation costs. We are very pleased to be a part of Kenya’s first floating solar system.”
Martin Baart, CEO of ecoligo, added, “Through our approach, we have already enabled many flower farms in Kenya to easily switch to solar power and benefit from day one. We believe that renewable energy can fundamentally change the industry by promoting sustainable growth and creating new jobs. We are proud to be a reliable partner for this.”
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