KenGen Launches First Battery Storage System for Power Supply of Modular Data Center
BESS technology has several advantages, including improved grid reliability, greater energy self-sufficiency, cost savings, and reliable backup systems.
By Juliet Jerotich
The Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen) has unveiled its first Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) that will provide stable renewable energy to its modular data center.
The newly commissioned 1.16-megawatt-hour (MWh) BESS will energize KenGen’s 52-kilowatt Modular Data Center (MDC) at its Nairobi headquarters. It is a complex consisting of 356 U-spaces and is meant to boost the company’s growing digital infrastructure while offering impeccable power supply.
In its release dated Tuesday, KenGen noted that the battery system will supply consistent power even during periods of low grid performance. The decision underscores the growing contribution that battery storage technology is making to ensuring energy security and resilience.
KenGen Managing Director and CEO, Eng. Peter Njenga, described the project as a key milestone in Kenya’s advancement towards a low-carbon, technologically sophisticated future.
“With the incorporation of battery storage into our data infrastructure, we are lowering our carbon footprint while also serving as an example of how energy utilities can drive sustainable innovation,” Njenga said during the opening ceremony.
The plant will predominantly supply KenGen’s internal requirements and serve as an example of how renewable energy storage can be employed to meet increasing data and connectivity demands.
This project forms part of KenGen’s “Good to Great (G2G) 2034” strategic roadmap, which seeks to introduce 500MWh of energy storage capacity within the next 10 years.
A Battery Energy Storage System is essentially a large, rechargeable unit capable of storing surplus energy—usually generated from renewable sources such as solar or wind—and releasing it during peak demand or in case of power interruptions.
BESS technology has several advantages, including improved grid reliability, greater energy self-sufficiency, cost savings, and reliable backup systems. It also helps facilitate the integration of renewable energy by storing power in hours of abundant low demand and releasing it during periods when output drops.
As energy is stored in a BESS, it is converted into chemical energy in the form of ionic movements in battery cells. An Energy Management System (EMS) tracks the charge and discharge cycles to ensure efficiency and to increase battery life.
The energy stored is at the point of discharge transformed to electricity through a Power Conversion System (PCS), which transforms Alternating Current (AC) into Direct Current (DC). AC is employed for power distribution since it is less expensive to produce and can be easily transmitted over long distances with little loss in energy.
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