Kenya has reviewed a solar water heating regulation requiring all premises with hot water requirements exceeding a capacity of 100 litres per day to install and use solar heating systems.
Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) said the new rules under the Draft Energy (Solar Photovoltaic Systems) Regulations 2019 would only apply on commercial buildings, and not on residential homeowners.
“We were forced back to the drawing board following public outcry,” EPRA director-general Pavel Oimeke said.
The regulations required owners of all premises within the jurisdiction of local authorities with hot water requirements of capacity exceeding 100 litres per day to install and use solar water heating systems, failure to which would attract a fine of US$ 10,000 or jail term.
“A lot of these residential homeowners lack the capacity to set up solar water heating systems,” he added.
The 2012 regulations required all premises, new and existing, be fitted with solar water heating systems and proposed that power distributors and suppliers be barred from providing electricity connections to premises breaching the regulations.
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Repealing of solar water heater law poses threat to solar business in Kenya
The draft Energy (Solar Photovoltaic Systems) Regulations 2019 removed the mandatory water heating requirement after parliament bowed to public pressure in 2018 to repeal the law.
The withdrawal, however, evoked panic in Solar equipment dealers who expressed their fear for business losses following the repeal.
Solar energy providers had anticipated making profits from the demand for solar products which the law would have created. Some companies restocked in anticipation for good times only to be disappointed by the EPRA review.
“Our company has more than 10 million stocks of solar systems lying in our warehouses,” a solar energy dealer admitted.
The omission came as a reprieve to real estate developers, homeowners, institutions which can now choose whether or not to install the systems.
EPRA is the body that regulates the generation, importation, exportation, transmission, distribution, supply and use of electrical energy, as well as, the production, conversion, distribution, supply, marketing and use of renewable energy in Kenya.
[…] regulations published on Friday, January 13, states that all listed premises would be required to incorporate a provision for solar water heating system installation. Included […]