Bamburi Cement suspends plans to switch to solar power

Bamburi Cement has put its plans to switch to solar power on hold, reports Standard Digital. The high cost of the project has left the company to resort to other methods to reduce its rising energy expenses, such as using waste tyres for fuel. 

Bamburi Cement spends KES2.4bn (US$23.2m) annually on electricity to run its two plants in Mombasa and Nairobi. These figures make it the second-highest consumer of electricity in Kenya. To reduce that power usage by a significant factor, the company would have to build a 15MW solar power plant.

“But for solar to generate 15 MW we needed at least five acres of land. For us, that is just not viable at the moment considering in Mombasa alone, we spend KES120m on power every month,” said Susan Maingi, Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability. 

Although using waste tyres has not had the same effect as a solar power plant would, Bamburi has managed to recycle 400,000t of tyres.