Some 780 private healthcare facilities across Kenya have shifted to solar power, as they delink their operations from the national grid to cut costs and ensure stable electricity supplies.

The shift follows a deal between their lobby organisation, the Rural and Urban Private Hospitals Association (Rupha), and renewable energy firm Cytek Solar. Installation of the solar panels is part of a twin approach to cut electricity bills from Kenya Power, guarantee stable supply, and avoid the outages tied to the national grid.

Rupha chairman Mohamud Ali said private hospitals are grappling with unreliable electricity supplies, costly diesel generators, and fixed Social Health Authority (SHA) tariffs, which do not reflect changing operating costs.

“Demand is driven by Kenya Power and Lighting Company's insufficient supply and poor support, and the need to work with a fixed SHA tariff that does not account for variable hospital input costs,” said Dr Mohamud.

“We lose 400 hours per year from load shedding and grid outages. These lost hours can have a direct and lasting impact on the provision of timely medical interventions and saving lives.”

He said that there is demand for solar power among its members, but the high cost of installation and the lack of financing remain major barriers to its adoption.

Cytek Chief Executive Officer Robert Gitemi said that installing solar power at one facility would cost an average of Sh5 million, putting the total value of the programme at approximately Sh3.9 billion. The actual cost will vary depending on how much electricity a hospital uses and the size of the system it requires.

“Cytek combines data-driven solar design, flexible payment models, financial institution partnerships, and digital energy monitoring to overcome the high CAPEX (upfront cost) barrier and unlock the potential Sh3.9 billion healthcare solar opportunity across the initial 780 facilities,” he said.

Under the partnership, hospitals will have two payment options. With lease-to-own, a hospital pays for the solar system in monthly instalments and eventually owns it, usually after five to seven years. With a power purchase agreement (PPA), either Cytek or a financier owns the system, and the hospital pays for the solar electricity it uses at a rate below the grid tariff.

These financing options are designed to enable hospitals to switch to solar power without having to cover the full cost of the system up front.

Officials said that based on each hospital’s actual electricity use, the programme is expected to reduce facility electricity costs by 40 to 60 percent.

A survey of 70 healthcare facilities conducted by Rupha in July found that 97 percent rely on Kenya Power, while 76 percent have backup power in the form of diesel-powered generators rather than solar power.

Six percent of the surveyed facilities experienced daily or weekly power outages, while 78 percent reported a moderate to high operational impact from power disruptions on their ability to deliver services to patients.

According to Rupha, rural Kenya has some of the highest input costs, which put additional pressure on hospitals whose reimbursement rates do not automatically increase as facility operating costs rise.

The first phase will focus on the 64 facilities that have already expressed interest. These hospitals will undergo energy checks to determine their requirements, after which financing arrangements will be made and the systems installed between September and December.

The programme will then be expanded to the remaining 716 facilities from 2027, with the systems being monitored remotely in order to track their performance.

A growing list of firms in Kenya, including Bio Food Products, Total Energies Kenya, Maisha Mabati Mills, Simba Cement, Unilever Tea Kenya, British American Tobacco, Africa Logistics Properties, Bidco, Mabati Rolling Mills, Centum Real Estate, and Devyani Food Industries, have shifted to their own solar power generation to cut operational costs and lower emissions.

Migration of these companies to solar power could, in the long run, affect Kenya Power, given that industries and firms are the biggest source of revenue to the State-electricity distributor.

For example, in the year ended June 2025, industries and commercial firms accounted for 64 percent (Sh148.2 billion) of Kenya Power’s revenues from electricity sales.

lowoko@ke.nationmedia.com