The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) has provided a $35-million loan to Alten Kenya Solarfarms – the Kenyan business of the Alten Group – for the $87-million 40 MW Kesses solar generation facility to be built near Eldoret in the Rift Valley region of Kenya.

The first part of the loan, which is repayable over 15 years, was disbursed in late December.

Alten will sell all its output to Kenyan national energy utility Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) under a 20-year take-or-pay power purchase agreement.

Construction of the plant has already started and is expected to be completed in Spring this year.

Kenya has become the ninth African country where EAIF has supported renewable energy projects in recent years. Other African countries where EAIF has supported such projects are Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Alten Energías Renovables Group is an independent power producer (IPP) with international knowledge in developing, financing and operating photovoltaic solar power plants in sub-Saharan Africa, Central America and Europe.

EAIF, meanwhile, is part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group.

EAIF investment managers Ninety One investment specialist Sine Zulu says the Kesses plant brings multiple benefits to Kenya’s economic development. “It will also play an important part in combatting climate change and strengthening Kenya’s ability to recover from Covid-19.”

Standard Bank, which is also a long-established lender to EAIF, was the mandated lead arranger of the project finance to Alten, supplying $41-million in debt comprising a term loan, value-added tax and debt service reserve facility. Standard Bank is acting through its corporate and investment banking and Stanbic Bank Kenya divisions.

“With the Kesses project, Standard Bank has been able to provide continued support to the use of clean energy across the African continent allowing for a more sustainable future,” says Standard Bank energy and infrastructure finance executive Sherrill Byrne.

She adds that this project is the second which Standard Bank has funded with the Alten group.

Building the Kesses plant will improve access to energy for thousands of people, supporting the United Nation’s seventh Sustainable Development Goal and creating up to 400 construction jobs, with 15 permanent jobs during operations.

Eldoret has the largest population concentration in the Rift Valley area region. It is a centre for local government, higher education, business and financial services, textile manufacturing, agribusiness and sports tourism.

According to the World Bank, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Kenyan economy grew at more than 6% in 2018; with increases in energy being essential to sustaining economic progress and accelerating economic recovery post-pandemic.