Advances in Phytochemistry, Textile and Renewable Energy Research for
Industrial Growth – Nzila et al. (Eds)
© 2022 Copyright the Author(s), ISBN: 978-1-032-11871-0
Open Access: www.taylorfrancis.com, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
Economic analysis of a stand-alone residential home solar PV system in
Western Kenya
W.K. Cheruiyot
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Eldoret, Eldoret, Kenya
ABSTRACT: Universal access to electricity is the current focus all over the world, especially in the developing
countries where the majority of those without electricity live today. The SDG7 committed the world countries
to work together and provide access to electricity to all by the year 2030. In response to this agenda, the
Kenyan government has expanded the national grid supply across the country through the Rural Electrification
Authority (REA), but the rate of connectivity in the rural regions is still very low despite the presence of the
grid infrastructure. In addition, the government sought to increase access to electricity through solar energy
in remote, low density and traditionally underserved counties through Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project
(K-OSAP). However, integration of PV power generators into the energy mix requires the right approach to
design and operational planning due to fluctuation of their outputs. Sizing of an off-grid PV system is necessary
at the planning stage to make it cost effective with regard to load demand and upfront cost. This paper present
an economic study design of solar energy potential in Western Kenya Region using 100 W installed stand-alone
PV system in a residential home as a case study through life cycle cost analysis method. Results show that the
investment will be recovered in 6.38 years and levelized cost of energy of 3.5/kWh is attainable.
Keywords: Solar energy, Off-grid PV system, residential energy demand, Life cycle cost analysis.
1 INTRODUCTION
Population growth and industrialization are the major
drivers of rapidly increasing energy demand in developing countries where supply of energy is insufficient.
It is important to note that the world is geared towards
renewable sources of electricity away from fossil fuels,
the use of photovoltaics (PV) is impressive for its sustainability as reported in popular literature works (1,
2). Regardless of the intermittency and seasonal variations of the solar resource, global capacity expected
growth from 2019 to 2024 is 700-880GW indicating
robust PV technology development (3). In the operational energy mix of Kenya, the year 2019 saw 11.6
billion kWh of electricity consumed of which geothermal, hydro, wind, thermal and solar contributed 45%,
27.5%, 13.5%, 11.2% and 0.8% respectively compared to 11.18 billion kWh consumed in the year
2018 where solar stood at 0.12% (4). This presents
a clear indication of energy demand increase annually and a steady increase of solar generated electricity
despite the vast availability of solar energy resources
in the country. Off-grid electrification is currently
the country’s flagship project with estimates of over
700,000 connections as per the end of year 2018 that
in return will lower the cost of energy. It is designed to
increase energy access via stand-alone solar systems
in 14 underserved Counties through the project duped
the Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project (KOSAP) in
conjunction with other funded programs and organizations that are in support of the last-mile distribution
of solar solutions (5). The favourable features of solar
energy have led to its rapid growth across governments
(abundance, clean, well distributed and economically
reliable for long term operation) with applications
ranging from grid connected to stand-alone (GridBackup, Grid-Tied, Off-Grid and Solar direct) PV
systems (6).
Majority of institutions in developing countries
(Public and private organizations) and individual residential homes prefer or supplement grid electricity
supply with independent sources commonly diesel
generators (DG) or PV systems.The running and maintenance costs of a diesel generator deter many low
income home owners from continued use of DG and
as well due to their minimal daily energy demands
that makes DG non-economical .This calls for a
customizable, affordable and non-disruptive energy
supply source. It has been proven over time that
small to large electricity demands can be met sustainably by well sized PV energy systems and is as well
viable technically and economically to use in the rural
areas (7).
High investment costs of PV technology remains
a major obstruction in many developing countries and
to help lessen these, government initiatives to promote
236
DOI 10.1201/9781003221968-32
Industrial Growth – Nzila et al. (Eds)
© 2022 Copyright the Author(s), ISBN: 978-1-032-11871-0
Open Access: www.taylorfrancis.com, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
Economic analysis of a stand-alone residential home solar PV system in
Western Kenya
W.K. Cheruiyot
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Eldoret, Eldoret, Kenya
ABSTRACT: Universal access to electricity is the current focus all over the world, especially in the developing
countries where the majority of those without electricity live today. The SDG7 committed the world countries
to work together and provide access to electricity to all by the year 2030. In response to this agenda, the
Kenyan government has expanded the national grid supply across the country through the Rural Electrification
Authority (REA), but the rate of connectivity in the rural regions is still very low despite the presence of the
grid infrastructure. In addition, the government sought to increase access to electricity through solar energy
in remote, low density and traditionally underserved counties through Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project
(K-OSAP). However, integration of PV power generators into the energy mix requires the right approach to
design and operational planning due to fluctuation of their outputs. Sizing of an off-grid PV system is necessary
at the planning stage to make it cost effective with regard to load demand and upfront cost. This paper present
an economic study design of solar energy potential in Western Kenya Region using 100 W installed stand-alone
PV system in a residential home as a case study through life cycle cost analysis method. Results show that the
investment will be recovered in 6.38 years and levelized cost of energy of 3.5/kWh is attainable.
Keywords: Solar energy, Off-grid PV system, residential energy demand, Life cycle cost analysis.
1 INTRODUCTION
Population growth and industrialization are the major
drivers of rapidly increasing energy demand in developing countries where supply of energy is insufficient.
It is important to note that the world is geared towards
renewable sources of electricity away from fossil fuels,
the use of photovoltaics (PV) is impressive for its sustainability as reported in popular literature works (1,
2). Regardless of the intermittency and seasonal variations of the solar resource, global capacity expected
growth from 2019 to 2024 is 700-880GW indicating
robust PV technology development (3). In the operational energy mix of Kenya, the year 2019 saw 11.6
billion kWh of electricity consumed of which geothermal, hydro, wind, thermal and solar contributed 45%,
27.5%, 13.5%, 11.2% and 0.8% respectively compared to 11.18 billion kWh consumed in the year
2018 where solar stood at 0.12% (4). This presents
a clear indication of energy demand increase annually and a steady increase of solar generated electricity
despite the vast availability of solar energy resources
in the country. Off-grid electrification is currently
the country’s flagship project with estimates of over
700,000 connections as per the end of year 2018 that
in return will lower the cost of energy. It is designed to
increase energy access via stand-alone solar systems
in 14 underserved Counties through the project duped
the Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project (KOSAP) in
conjunction with other funded programs and organizations that are in support of the last-mile distribution
of solar solutions (5). The favourable features of solar
energy have led to its rapid growth across governments
(abundance, clean, well distributed and economically
reliable for long term operation) with applications
ranging from grid connected to stand-alone (GridBackup, Grid-Tied, Off-Grid and Solar direct) PV
systems (6).
Majority of institutions in developing countries
(Public and private organizations) and individual residential homes prefer or supplement grid electricity
supply with independent sources commonly diesel
generators (DG) or PV systems.The running and maintenance costs of a diesel generator deter many low
income home owners from continued use of DG and
as well due to their minimal daily energy demands
that makes DG non-economical .This calls for a
customizable, affordable and non-disruptive energy
supply source. It has been proven over time that
small to large electricity demands can be met sustainably by well sized PV energy systems and is as well
viable technically and economically to use in the rural
areas (7).
High investment costs of PV technology remains
a major obstruction in many developing countries and
to help lessen these, government initiatives to promote
236
DOI 10.1201/9781003221968-32