- Power costs account for an average of 28% of production in the country from 20% in 2020.
- Unga Group is now on course to reduce its reliance on the national power grid and reduce its carbon footprint by 2,454 tons of CO2/year.
Image: HANDOUT
Listed food processing firm Unga Group Limited is completing a Sh300 million solar power generation project to service its manufacturing plants as part of its sustainability endeavors.
The solar is expected to power two sites in Nairobi, two in Nakuru and one in Eldoret.
Speaking ahead of the Africa Climate Summit 2023 that kicks off today in Nairobi, Unga Group managing director Joseph Choge said the firm has adopted solar power solutions as a part of an agenda to advance green growth.
Unga Group, Choge said, continues to embed climate action and sustainability as a crucial part of its business strategy and avoid overreliance on the national grid.
"This is part of Unga’s innovative energy program, which aims to increase the company’s uptake of solar energy by diversifying the energy sources, boosting efficiency, and reducing operational costs,'' he said.
He added that adopting solar power units will help the total food company slash its power costs by more than 27 per cent, occasioning more than Sh80 million in annual savings.
Unga Group is now on course to reduce its reliance on the national power grid and reduce its carbon footprint by 2,454 tons of CO2/year.
''We are deliberately pursuing a green growth agenda by adopting environmentally friendly solutions in all our operating touchpoints. The initial investment is undoubtedly heavy, but we remain focused that the returns will be attractive in the fulness of time,” Choge said.
The effort to solarise the manufacturing sites is part of Unga Group’s transformative journey towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
It joins a number of firms cutting dependency on the national grid as power costs account for an average of 28 per cent of production in the country from 20 per cent in 2020.
For instance, Devki Group planning to generate its own power by the end of the year.
According to Devki Group founder, Narendra Raval, the decision to self-generate the company’s own power became clearer after Kenya Power demanded Sh2.8 billion bn to connect electricity to the Emali clinker factory.
The company will start with a 64MW power plant in the Pokot region as it commences construction on the Pokot cement plant, which it purchased from Cemtech.
Firms are also running away from regular power outages.