Malindi Solar Power Station

The Malindi Solar Power Station is a 52 MW solar power plant in Kenya.

Location
The power station is located in Malindi, Kilifi County, at the Indian Ocean, approximately 116 km by road north of Mombasa, the nearest large city. This is approximately 497 km, by road, south-east of Nairobi, the country's capital and largest city.

Overview
The power station has a 52 megawatt capacity. Its output is planned to be sold directly to the Kenya Power and Lighting Company for integration into the national grid. It is expected most of the power generated will be consumed locally, in an area with increasing energy demand, limited energy supply and an expanding population. It is also anticipated that the power station will support the creation of jobs through direct employment and indirect job creation through more consistent supply of electricity. Up to 250 direct jobs are expected to be created, in addition to a further 5,600 jobs in the wider economy.

Developers
The power station was developed by a consortium of comprising the following corporations: (a) Commonwealth Development Corporation (b) Globeleq (c) Africa Energy Development Corporation (AEDC), the originator of the project and (d) IDEA Power.

Ownership
When completed the power station will be owned by Malindi Solar Group Limited, a special purpose vehicle company, which will operate the solar energy project. The ownership of Malindi Solar Group Limited is as illustrated in the table below:

Construction costs, funding, and commissioning
The construction of the solar power plant is budgeted at US$66 million, with US$50 million sourced from the CDC Group and US$16 million sourced from Globeleq. It was expected that the power station would come online in 2020. In January 2022, Afrik21.africa reported that the power station had started "commercial operations".

In February 2024, Kenyan media reported that Globeleq had received authorization from the Kenyan Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) to invest KSh4.6 billion (US$29 million) in a battery storage system at this power station. The battery storage is expected to be in the 40 MWh range and is intended to respond to peak-hour demand between 7.30pm and 8.30pm Kenyan time.