National Cement to Develop Own Wind Power Station

In an effort to cut costs, the National Cement Company Limited, the company that manufactures Simba Cement, intends to build a 60-Megawatt (MW) wind power station in West Pokot County.

Devki Group would increase its already sizeable presence in Kenya’s power production sub-sector as a result of the purchase, depriving the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) listed company of much-needed revenue. The process of producing cement consumes a lot of energy.

National Cement, a subsidiary of the Devki Group, stated in a notice published in local newspapers that the electricity generated will be used for internal consumption at their Sebit Cement Plant.

“Notice is hereby given that National Cement Company Limited…pursuant to the provisions of section 117 of the Energy Act of 2019, will on 27th July 2023 make an application to the Energy Regulatory Authority for the energy generation license for 60 MW Waste Heat Recovery,” reads the announcement in part.

After lodging the licence application, the manufacturer stated that the copy would be available for public access, subject to confidentiality restrictions. Any organisation with concerns may do so in writing to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) within 30 days.

In a similar move, Devki Group, through its subsidiary, Devki Steel Mills, announced plans to build a Sh260 million wind farm in Samburu, Kwale County, last year. The decision to develop a wind power plant in West Pokot is the result of that announcement. The 60 MW Kwale wind power project will sell its electricity to the public grid. After geothermal and hydroelectric electricity, wind power made up about 26% of the nation’s energy consumption as of 2021.

The decision by Devki to generate its own electricity comes at a time when the cost of electricity has skyrocketed across the country, causing businesses to look for other energy sources.

The average cost of 50 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity increased by 66.5 percent by the end of May 2023, from Sh796.83 in August 2022 to Sh1,326.54.

Devki Group, which is well-known for producing steel and cement, has recently worked to diversify both its energy and revenue sources.

In order to power its steel production and clinker manufacturing facility, the company turned on a 15 MW coal power plant at its Kajiado location in 2015.

In addition, Sosian Menengai Geothermal Power, which is constructing a 35 MW geothermal project in Menengai, Nakuru County, was acquired by Devki Group in 2017.