DPA to power Ecobank’s branches in Kenya with Solar

Pan-African renewable energy company Distributed Power Africa (DPA) and Ecobank Kenya Limited signed a Master Agreement for the rollout of solar power solutions in seven Ecobank branches and offices across Kenya. The branches and offices include Ecobank Head Office, Fortis Office Park branch, Kisumu branch, Eldoret branch, Karatina branch, Nyeri branch, Thika branch and Mombasa Moi Avenue.

DPA last year successfully implemented three solar projects for Ecobank in Cote d’Ivoire followed by a power needs assessment in over 130 other Ecobank branches, and led to Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the parent company of Ecobank Kenya, taking their green journey to 13 countries across Africa.

For DPA, this is a major development in the financial sector as solar power is certainly the sustainable alternative energy solution to increase businesses’ efficiencies

Moncef Mettij, DPA CEO – East & West Africa

The solar energy solutions to be deployed will be tailored to the branch’s energy needs, and to each country. Most of the solutions will be grid-tied with photovoltaic (PV), and in some countries DPA will install hybrid solutions with PV, batteries and diesel generators (DG) for 100% power guarantee.

Ecobank to reduce their carbon footprint and lower their energy costs

Moncef is certain that the solution will not only allow the customer to run their operations on environmentally friendly energy, but will save the pan African bank both in costs and energy efficiencies.

DPA’s track record of execution includes data centre solutions for Liquid Telecom in Nairobi, Johannesburg and Capetown, a healthcare facility solution for Aga Khan as well as solutions for Massmart in South Africa, and Schweppes and UNESCO in Zimbabwe.

With increasing electricity costs from national power suppliers, many are considering renewable energy as a way to reduce costs, with companies like Ecobank taking bold steps through green initiatives to reduce their carbon footprints as a commitment to environmental responsibility.

While commenting on the partnership, Ecobank Kenya Managing Director & Regional Executive Central, Eastern and Southern Africa (CESA), Cheikh Travaly said: “Our partnership with Distributed Power Africa (DPA) on solar retrofitting in our branches is in line with our commitment to create a healthy financial system, promote environmentally friendly solutions and pursue sustainability of our banking services”.

The DPA solar package with Ecobank is at zero upfront cost with possibility of either power lease or power purchase.