Greater Mombasa Greenfield Energy Investment

Private Greenfield Energy Investment (reliable power for industry)
Project
Status	proposed
Theme	Energy
Pillar	Infrastructure
Counties	Mombasa, Kilifi, Kwale
Lead organisation	Economic Development and Investment Council for Greater Mombasa
Partners	None named
Funding source	Private investment by an independent power producer, with lenders; no structure published
Website	https://edicpwani.ke/#OurPriorities

The Greater Mombasa Greenfield Energy Investment is a project within the Energy theme. It is a proposal by the Economic Development and Investment Council for Greater Mombasa (EDIC) for a new, privately financed renewable or hybrid power project, either at utility scale or serving commercial and industrial users directly, to give manufacturers, the port and logistics firms and tourism businesses in Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale cheaper and more reliable electricity. It is at the earliest stage: EDIC has not named a site, technology, size, sponsor or budget. The page sets out the coast's power supply and the rules that would govern such a project.

What it is

EDIC describes "a utility-scale or C&I renewable/hybrid solution to stabilise power costs and improve reliability for manufacturing, logistics, and tourism assets", and says it "will scope demand, identify candidate sites, prepare the concept note and mini-model, and engage IPPs, lenders, and EPC partners". "C&I" refers to commercial and industrial customers, and "IPPs" to independent power producers. The project has no page of its own on EDIC's site.

There are two broad routes. A utility-scale plant would sell power to Kenya Power under a power purchase agreement. A commercial and industrial project would supply one or more large users directly, either on their own premises or over the national grid. Kenya's net-metering rules, which took effect in July 2024, cap commercial and industrial systems at 1 MW and credit only half of each unit exported to the grid, which suits rooftop self-supply rather than a larger shared plant.

The coast's power supply

Kipevu III, KenGen's 120 MW plant in Mombasa burning heavy fuel oil, is now the only operating thermal power station on the coast. In March 2026 parliamentary committees told KenGen to convert it to liquefied natural gas before its contract expires in 2031, warning that failure to convert or extend it "could trigger a power crisis" at the coast; KenGen said operation beyond 2031 depends on LNG infrastructure. Kenya Power's accounts show it paid about KSh 13.1 billion for 461 GWh from Kipevu III and about KSh 12.1 billion for 489 GWh from the Rabai thermal plant in 2024/25, roughly KSh 25 to 28 per kWh, among its costliest sources. The government plans a 1,200 MW gas-fired plant near Mombasa as a public private partnership, which would run on imported LNG; no gas supply has been secured. The coast's largest renewable plant is Malindi Solar in Kilifi County, 52 MWp (40 MW to the grid), developed by Globeleq and exporting power since December 2021. Industry is also building its own supply: Equator Energy commissioned a large solar plant for Mombasa Cement at Vipingo in 2025.

Rationale

EDIC's case is that coast power is costly and unreliable for industry, but it publishes no figures. The official record partly supports it. The coast's thermal plants are among Kenya Power's most expensive sources, and a JICA survey of the sector found that independent power producers supply a minority of energy but about half of Kenya Power's purchase costs. The same survey, citing the energy regulator's statistics, puts the Coast region at about 18 per cent of national electricity use. On reliability, Kenya Power reports national outage measures improving in 2024/25, with average interruption time falling from 120 to 113 hours a year, but publishes no coast-specific figures, and it attributes widespread outages to transmission constraints. The prospect of Kipevu III leaving the system in 2031 is the clearest coast-specific supply risk.

Status and timeline

The project is at concept stage, with no concept note or site published. The national policy setting has recently changed. Kenya Power signed no new power purchase agreement after 2018; a moratorium on new agreements was lifted by the Cabinet in 2023 and reinstated by MPs, and on 12 November 2025 the National Assembly adopted its Energy Committee's proposal to lift it, with wholesale prices capped at US$0.07 per kWh. The net-metering regulations took effect in July 2024.

How the project is being procured

No Terms of Reference, tender or PPP listing exists. EDIC proposes to approach independent power producers, lenders and engineering contractors directly. A plant selling to Kenya Power would now need a power purchase agreement within the US$0.07 per kWh cap; one serving industrial users directly would rely on the open-access rules in the Energy Act 2019 and its 2024 regulations, for which no published wheeling charge was found.

Who is involved

EDIC is a multi-stakeholder council for Greater Mombasa chaired by Dr Kevit Desai. Kenya Power buys and distributes electricity, KenGen operates Kipevu III, and the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority licenses generators and sets tariffs. No developer, lender or customer has been named.

• Economic Development and Investment Council for Greater Mombasa
• Kenya Power

Concerns and counterpoints

No one has commented in public on the EDIC proposal. The points below come from the wider record on private power in Kenya and on energy projects at the coast, as general context.

Costs to the public

Kenya froze new power purchase agreements for years over concern that existing ones were too expensive, and when MPs lifted the freeze in November 2025 they capped wholesale prices at US$0.07 per kWh. A new plant on a long-term agreement would add to the public's fixed commitments unless it is competitively priced and actually needed; the same report notes that the freeze coincided with rising power imports and rationing, mainly in western Kenya, rather than at the coast.

Utility revenue

Kenya Power lists "declining grid-based electricity demand" as large users turn to their own supply among its principal risks. A project that takes the coast's largest industrial users off the grid would help those users but shift the grid's fixed costs onto the households and small businesses that remain.

Land, communities and the Lamu precedent

Coastal energy projects have met strong local opposition. In June 2019 the National Environment Tribunal cancelled the environmental licence for Amu Power's 1,050 MW coal plant at Lamu, finding public participation inadequate and the climate law ignored, in a case brought for Save Lamu; the company said it would work with stakeholders. A renewable project needs land too: a utility-scale solar plant of tens of megawatts takes tens of hectares, and the existing Garissa plant, for example, uses about 81 hectares for 50 MW. Early consultation on land in Kilifi or Kwale would be essential.

Firm power

Solar alone does not supply power at night or during cloudy spells, so a "reliable power for industry" project would need batteries, a hybrid design or continued grid backup. The government's answer to coast firm power is the planned gas plant, which a private renewable project would complement rather than replace.

Sources

• The Energy (Net-Metering) Regulations, 2024, Kenya Law.
• Kenya Power Integrated Annual Report 2025, Kenya Power (38 MB, linked rather than uploaded).
• Data Collection Survey on Optimal Use of Energy in Kenya, JICA, March 2025.
• Our Priorities, EDIC.