Liberalise power production
An employee connects solar cells at the Vikram Solar manufacturing plant in Oragadam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu on October 13, 2021.
The hustler economic model targets small and micro enterprises as a key cog in growth and job creation.
The clichéd Mama Mboga is competing with large industrial scale resellers like supermarkets and online applications like Jumia and Twiga, The boda boda guy at the micro-level is competing with Kenya Railway Commuter rail system, large transport companies and the likes of Uber and Bolt ride-hailing apps, the hot coffee hawker is competing with large concerns such as Java and Artcaffé franchises, their scale of operation notwithstanding.
The question is: Why is electricity not liberalised to the micro level of household or school/institution? Why is there no mama stima, or baba power micro generating power for profit? My clients often ask me how they can leverage on having their excess energy produced by the system taken up by the grid in a net metering arrangement with the state utility.
According to Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) Draft Regulations, “net-metering” allows electricity consumers who generate their own power to supply it to the grid in times of over-production and to be compensated for or make use of the credited energy during other times.
Well, the reality is quite different. The new rules apply to PV systems up to 1 MW in size, that being the upper limit. The same Epra that seems to give a lifeline for micro generation takes it away by setting the minimum limits at 0.5 MW (500 Kilowatt.)
What this means is thay households, community grids and small institutions cannot have feed-in tariffs. Whatever excess energy produced cannot be net metered or compensated at night when the system is not generating.
Cabinet Secretary Chirchir, I posit to you a game-changer — incorporating micro-generators from 1 kilowatt system upwards, through the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), which is to small energy prosumers what Feed in Tariff (FiT) is to industrial and commercial energy prosumers.
Ms Hassan is the Business Development Manager, Solarnow (K) Ltd. [email protected]
