Kenya has an abundance of sunshine as it straddles the Equator. The sun provides an unlimited amount of solar energy, which can be used to produce both solar-generated electricity and solar hot water. Lamu Realty has extensive experience installing solar systems and would be happy to be of service — please ask for a quote.
Solar Electricity
Solar electricity is generated with the assistance of photovoltaic solar panels. These panels convert solar energy directly into electricity, which can be used to power your house. Depending on whether you already have an electricity supply or not, there are, in principle, two options:
- Grid Tie Systems — If you have an electricity supply, you can generate all your required electricity during the day with solar panels. Any surplus electricity is fed into the national electricity grid and credited to you. During the night, you buy electricity from the network, utilising your credit (if any) generated during the daytime. If the solar system is large enough, you might not even have an electricity bill.
- Insular Systems — For house owners without a connection to the national grid. These systems require battery storage, to store energy generated from the sun during the day for use during the night.
Solar Hot Water
The energy of the sun can also easily be captured to cover the hot water requirements of your house. The water is heated by the sun in special panels and stored in insulated storage tanks, from where it is distributed throughout the house to provide hot water wherever you require it. There is important information to consider:
- The quality of the water has a major influence on your water system in general, and on your solar hot water generation in particular.
- Water with a high salt content tends to corrode (via electro-corrosion) all metal parts in your water system rapidly.
- In these cases, the hot water generation system has to be made of salt-water-resistant stainless steel (marine grade).
- However, experience has shown that it is much better to treat the water and remove the excess salt, as the lifespan of all appliances and fittings (washing machine, dishwasher, water taps, toilet cisterns, shower heads, etc.) will drastically increase when run on clean, salt-free water.
