Kenya plans to install 495 domestic masonry biogas plants across the country as part of boosting renewable energy.
In a tender notice, the ministry of energy and petroleum says the projects will be carried out in 18 counties.
These include Nandi, Kilifi, Kwale, Migori, Kiambu. Nairobi, Busia, Siaya, Meru, Tharaka Nithi, Baringo, West Pokot and Nyeri among others.
The plants, the government says will use cow dung as feedstock and the scope of work will involve construction, installation and commissioning of the 10m cube plants.
Over the last two years, Kenya has been promoting the use of biogas with projects implemented through select farmers and learning institutions.
This, the ministry says is part of its wider plans to establish renewable energy use as way of mitigating the adverse effects of climate change.
Proposals have also been initiated to convert hundreds of waste landfills across the county for energy production. In 2023, Italian firm Eni Kenya BV sought approval form the ministry of energy.
The firm premised its request on a feasibility study it conducted on five urban waste landfills.
A number of households in rural Kenya have over the years embraced biogas to cut on heavy use of firewood and LPG for domestic cooking. On an industrial scale, fresh fruit processor Del Monte excited the market with its Ksh1B biogas and electric power plant in Thika, Kiambu County in 2020.
To-date, it is estimated that the country has 20,000 biogas systems according to data from the state department of energy in Kenya.