Design & Energy Audit

Kenya receives some of the highest solar irradiance in the world — averaging 4 to 6 peak sun hours daily across most of the country — but turning that natural advantage into real, bankable savings depends entirely on accurate system sizing. Every Élan Climat solar project starts with an energy audit of the client's actual consumption pattern, pulled from utility bills and, where useful, temporary load logging, rather than a generic per-square-metre estimate.

We then carry out a shading analysis and structural assessment of the proposed mounting location, whether that's a rooftop, a ground-mount array, or a carport structure, to confirm the site can support the system without compromising the building's structural integrity or the array's expected output. For commercial and industrial clients, the energy audit also identifies which loads are best offset by solar directly versus which loads would benefit more from a battery-backed hybrid configuration.

Equipment Selection

We supply and install tier-1 solar panels and inverters exclusively — manufacturers with a proven bankability track record and long-term performance warranties, not the cheaper unverified imports that quietly underperform within a few years. Battery storage designs use LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate) chemistry, chosen specifically for its long cycle life and stable performance in Kenya's ambient temperature range, which is considerably kinder to battery chemistry than the high-heat conditions found in some other African markets.

Installation & Grid Interconnection

Installation covers structural mounting with appropriate wind and seismic loading allowances, DC wiring with correctly rated cable and fusing, AC wiring back to the distribution board, earthing, and surge protection. For grid-tied and hybrid systems, we handle the full KPLC interconnection process — system documentation, export meter installation, and interconnection agreement processing — so clients aren't left navigating utility paperwork themselves.

Hybrid & Battery Storage Configuration

Hybrid systems are configured to prioritise solar self-consumption first, battery charging second, and grid export or import last — the sequencing that delivers the strongest financial return under Kenya's current tariff structure. For off-grid sites, battery banks are sized to cover critical loads through extended cloudy periods, with a clear, documented basis for that sizing rather than a rounded-up guess.

Commissioning & Monitoring

Every system is commissioned with remote performance monitoring, giving the client visibility into daily generation, consumption offset, and any underperformance alerts without needing to climb onto the roof to check. This also gives our operations and maintenance team early warning of degrading panel strings or inverter faults, often before the client notices any change in their bill.

Costs, Payback Period & Financing Considerations

Solar payback periods in Kenya typically range from 3 to 6 years for commercial and industrial installations, depending on the client's existing tariff band and daytime consumption profile, and somewhat longer for residential systems where usage is more evening-weighted. During the proposal stage we model expected generation against the client's actual load profile to give a realistic payback estimate rather than an optimistic headline figure, and we advise on structuring projects to qualify for available financing or leasing arrangements where relevant.

Operations & Maintenance

Panel soiling from dust is a genuine yield loss factor in Kenya's dry seasons, particularly for sites near unpaved roads or agricultural land. Our operations and maintenance (O&M) contracts include scheduled panel cleaning, torque-checking of mounting hardware, inverter firmware updates, string-level performance verification against expected output, and battery health checks for hybrid and off-grid systems — the routine work that keeps a system performing at its commissioned yield for the full 25-year design life rather than degrading unnoticed.