ALTEN Africa donates PPE material to help in the fight against COVID-19

  • The donated PPE materials are FFP2 and surgical masks, plastic face shields, hand sanitiser and individual bottled water. It was handed over by the company to the regional government of Uasin Gishu County at an event presided by the Governor His Excellency Jackson Mandago and attended by the county’s most prominent authorities.
  • The donation was made by ALTEN Africa with the support of the NGOs CESAL and AVSI Kenya Foundation in the logistics and distribution of materials.
  • The action is an example of ALTEN Energías Renovables’ corporate policy of Social Investment to assist the population of the regions where the company operates.
  • ALTEN Africa is building a photovoltaic plant called Kesses 1, on the Eldoret plateau in Kenya, in Uasin Gishu County, one of the most populated in the country.
  • The 55MWp plant has a 40 MWac capacity and will account for 2% of the country’s entire installed capacity. Its commissioning has been delayed because of the pandemic and is now scheduled for the second quarter of 2021.
  • Annual production is estimated at 123.6 GWh/year, enough to meet the electricity needs of 824,000 Kenyans and avoid 33.99 metric tonnes of carbon emissions into the atmosphere every year.
  • The Kesses 1 photovoltaic plant will be ALTEN Africa’s first utility scale project in Kenya and one of the largest photovoltaic solar plants in east Africa.

Eldoret, Kenya 18th June 2020.- The international company ALTEN Africa, an independent solar power producer using PV technology, has made a donation to the government of the Kenyan County of Uasin Gishu, consisting of a shipment of high-protection and surgical masks, plastic face shields, hand sanitiser and individually bottled water  worth 1 million Kenyan shillings (about USD10,000). With this donation the company is helping to provide the healthcare supplies needed to stop contagion of COVID-19 in one of Kenya’s highest risk and most populated regions, and in so doing helping its communities and most vulnerable groups in the fight against the spread of the virus in the country.

The healthcare supplies donated were handed over by the company at the headquarters of the government of Uasin Gishu County, during an event hosted by the Governor, His Excellency Jackson Mandago, attended also by the Vice-Governor His Excellency Daniel Chemno, the head of Trade & Industry, Dra Emily Kogos, and the Assembly Member for the County, the Honourable Gilbert Tenai. ALTEN Africa was represented by the Country Manager for Kenya, Mr Peter Sibondo, the Head of Environmental and Social corporate Responsibility, Ms. Victoria González and Mr George Tarus, Community Liaison Officer of the Kesses 1 photovoltaic plant that ALTEN Africa is developing in Uasin Gishu County.

The event was also attended by the Africa Area Manager of the NGO CESAL, Mr. Ignacio Valero and his colleagues in the country, Ms. Romana Koech, Country Manager, and Mr Henry Waitindi, Manager of the AVSI Foundation. Both NGOs have cooperated with ALTEN Africa in the conversations with the government of Uasin Gishu County and in the purchase of the healthcare supplies requested by the latter.

 ALTEN Africa is building a photovoltaic solar plant called Kesses 1, with peak power of 55 MWp and 40 MWac power capacity which, once finished, will account for 2% of the country’s entire installed capacity. The new plant will discharge 123.6 GWh /year of clean energy into Kenya’s grid, enough to meet the electricity needs of 824,000 Kenyans.

The Global greenhouse gas and climate change related impacts during the Project life-cycle are expected to be positive, as one of the main consequences of the project will be the generation of 40MW of GHG free power. Additionally, the new plant will avoid between 33 and 34 metric tonnes of carbon emissions into the atmosphere every year throughout its 25-year lifespan.

The Kesses 1 plant is ALTEN Africa’s first utility scale project in Kenya. It has one of the highest levels of solar radiation in the world, and climatic conditions that are also favourable to the plant’s energy production.

The plant closed its financing at the end of 2019 with a financial instrument from ALTEN Energías Renovables Group and will shortly close the plant refinancing with project finance led by commercial and multilateral financiers. Construction work began at the end of 2019, but is currently suspended, until the lockdown of the general population due to the pandemic is lifted.

With the commissioning of this plant scheduled for the second quarter of 2021, Kesses 1 will become one of the largest photovoltaic solar plants in east Africa. It will be connected to the Kenya Power Lighting Company (KPLC) grid, the country’s utility, via the Turkwell–Lessos power line. To achieve this ALTEN Africa has planned the construction of a substation to raise the voltage to 220 KV and a switch substation with a layout that will provide close to 100% availability to Kenya’s grid. Likewise, this infrastructure will provide a secure supply to Kenya’s electricity grid and allow future supplies in the Eldoret area to be connected.

 

ALTEN Africa’s commitment to Kenya

Before construction work began, in February 2020 ALTEN Africa held a meeting at the project site with the local community to explain first-hand both the project itself and the advantages it will bring. These will include the option of employing local labour and other underlying benefits. This is part of the policy of engaging with community stakeholders that ALTEN Energías Renovables establishes in all its projects worldwide to build long-term relationships with communities and identify opportunities that contribute to the area’s economic and social development, as well as environmental preservation of the area affected by each of the projects it undertakes.

ALTEN Africa expects that most of the employees in the plant, both during the construction and in the operations & maintenance phases, will come from Eldoret’s neighbouring communities.

In view of the effects of COVID-19 in Kenya, a country that is more vulnerable to the possible spread of the virus because it is a transit corridor for east Africa, ALTEN Africa is sticking to its commitment to the local population as part of its Social Investment policy, with funds earmarked for this. The company is working with the Spanish NGO CESAL and also with AVSI Foundation, making available to the Uasin Gishu government the healthcare material it requested to help to prevent new contagions.

ALTEN Africa’s senior management has made its commitment to the project abundantly clear on repeated occasions.  One of the most recent, before the onset of the pandemic, was when Inspire Evolution, one of ALTEN Africa’s key shareholders in this and other projects being developed by the company in eastern and sub-Saharan Africa, held its Investment Committee meeting in Eldoret.

 

About ALTEN AfrIca 

ALTEN Africa is part of the ALTEN Energías Renovables group, one of the most active independent power producers (IPP) on the international stage, specialising in the development, financing, construction and operating of photovoltaic solar plants in competitive environments, mainly in Latin America (through its ALTEN America subsidiary) and sub-Saharan Africa (through ALTEN Africa).

About ALTEN Energías Renovables / ALTEN ER

ALTEN Energías Renovables is an Independent Power Producer (IPP) specialising in photovoltaic solar energy, with offices in Spain, the Netherlands, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Mexico and Mozambique. It has extensive expertise in the development, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of PV power plants in challenging environments. The company has a 350 MWp photovoltaic solar plant in operation since 2018 in Mexico in the state of Aguascalientes, and a 300 MWp photovoltaic plant in the state of Puebla, at the financial closing stage. In Europe, the company has been operating a plant in El Casar/Guadalajara (Spain) since 2019 and has a pipeline of 300 MW at different stages of development in Portugal, Italy and Spain.

 In sub-Saharan Africa ALTEN ER has been operating a 45.5MWp plant in Namibia since 2019 and has closed the refinancing of a 55 MWp plant in Kenya. It is leading a 157 MWp project at an advanced stage of development in Nigeria with a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed with Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET); PPA negotiations are also underway with EDM on a 40 MWp project in Cuamba (Mozambique). ALTEN ER has a pipeline of more than 1 GW at various stages of development in Africa, Mexico and those mentioned above in Europe.

About CESAL

CESAL is a Spanish NGO that has been working since 1986 in international cooperation projects and social action. Its mission is to promote human development among the most disadvantaged people in the world’s most vulnerable countries. It operates in 16 countries in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, as well as in Spain where it helps groups at risk of social exclusion and the refugee population. To date it has handled over 800 projects in education, healthcare, water supply and drainage, socioeconomic development and strengthening of civil society, energy, environment and climate change, which have had positive impacts on over 4 million people. It currently runs 7 international offices in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, with 299 permanent staff in the 16 countries where it intervenes and 133 volunteers. In Spain it has 12 delegations and representation in nearly 50 cities, with over 1000 volunteers who are active in a wide range of initiatives, creating awareness and supporting the work of CESAL across the world.out AVSI Foundation

An NGO set up in 1972 with the mission of carrying out cooperative development projects, with particular emphasis on education. It focuses on the defence and promotion of personal dignity, a principle which is the cornerstone of all its projects. It has over 199 projects operating in 32 countries. The organisation has 34 founder members, over 700 local partners, 3000 volunteers and EUR68.1 million in funds, with which it has provided development aid since 1986 to over 116,300 children and 130,300 adults in the world. AVSI Foundation has worked closely with ALTEN Africa on the project directed to the Uasin Gishu government to donate healthcare materials for preventing the transmission of COVID 19. CESAL, the Spanish NGO with which ALTEN Energía Renovables works in Latin America, has been the local intermediary.