German crowd-investment platform Ecologo will support the funding and installation of a 69-kW floating solar facility in the Lake Naivasha area. According to a recent Ecoligo announcement, the “first ever floating solar project in Kenya is now open for investment.” The project will power Rift Valley Roses, a flower farm in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley.
With a total output of 69 kWp, the project not only reduces electricity costs, but also the company’s CO2 emissions by up to 68 tons of CO2 per year. This will be their second crowd-financed solar system: a 75 kWp rooftop system is already installed.
The planned solar system will be installed on the water surface of one of the flower farm’s two irrigation tanks. The "isifloating" substructure from Isigenere was designed in such a way that it can serve as a support for floating solar systems for various water surfaces, for example natural lakes, aquaculture systems, and artificial reservoirs.
The system consists of modular, interconnectable floats in the form of a concave cavity, which is closed as soon as the PV module is placed on two of these floats. The material (HDPE – high density polyethylene) is treated with UV stabilizer and corrosion protection.
Technolectric is responsible for the technical planning and implementation of the solar system and also takes care of local maintenance.