The Africa Development Bank’s (AfDB) Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) has approved a grant of US$995,000 to Asticom Kenya Ltd, to support the construction of a 10MW grid-connected municipal waste-to-energy (WTE) plant.

The grid connected WTE plant is expected to generate electricity from municipal solid waste by converting them to biogas.

The grant will fund the cost of conducting a full environmental and social impact assessment, detailed engineering designs and provide project-related legal advisory services, as well as financial and transaction advisory services.

Launched in 2012, SEFA is a US$90mn facility funded by the governments of Denmark, the UK, the US and Italy. It supports the sustainable energy agenda in Africa through grants to facilitate the preparation of medium-scale renewable energy generation and energy efficiency projects.

The project will be located in Kibera, a suburb of Nairobi, and is expected to generate electricity from municipal solid waste by converting them to biogas or fuel ethanol.

“The planned diversion and use of municipal solid waste is set to have significant health, social and development outcomes, and will be of benefit to the inhabitants of Kibera, a community that receives 1,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste daily from the Nairobi County,” said AfDB.

The AfDB further added that the local dwellers will be contracted in the sorting of the municipal waste, which will provide them with additional employment and income.

The project aligns with AfDB’s High 5 development priorities and in particular, the agenda to Light up and Power Africa, the 10-Year Strategy, the Private Sector Development Strategy (2013-2017), the Energy Sector Policy 2012 and the New Deal on Energy for Africa. It is also in line with Kenya’s National Development Plan and the AfDB’s Country Strategy Paper (CSP) for Kenya, which prioritises the ‘enabling of physical infrastructure to unleash inclusive growth.’ -Kenyan WallStreet