The concept of CSP ( Concentrated Solar Power) can be fully embraced in areas which receive the most sunshine all year round, for instance, in Kenya Garissa and Turkana areas are an exampe. CSP would be most cost effective in such areas as approximately 1MW of electricity would used to electrify every 500 homes. Considering that most of the population of people are from low income households and hence consume a small amount of electricity, a 500MW CSP power plant would be more than enough to electrify such an area with the excess electricity being fed into the national grid to be used elsewhere.

1. Clean is Green

2. INTRODUCTION
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were born at the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. The objective was to produce a set of
universal goals that meet the urgent environmental, political and economic challenges facing
our world. The SDGs replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which started a global
effort in 2000 to tackle the indignity of poverty. The MDGs established measurable, universally-
agreed objectives for tackling extreme poverty and hunger, preventing deadly diseases, and
expanding primary education to all children, among other development priorities. And now, all
these achievements will be continued by SDGS.

3. SDGs Linkage
The SDGs are a bold commitment to finish what had been started and tackle some of the more
pressing challenges facing the world today.
All 17 Goals interconnect, meaning success in one affects success for others. Dealing with the
threat of climate change impacts how we manage our fragile natural resources. Basically, this is
the greatest chance we have to improve life for future generations.
The SDGs are unique in that they cover issues that affect us all. They are ambitious in making
sure no one is left behind. More importantly, they involve us all to build a more sustainable,
safer, more prosperous planet for all humanity.

4. The Challenge
Energy is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity the world faces today.
Focusing on universal access to energy, increased energy efficiency and the increased use of
renewable energy through new economic and job opportunities is crucial to creating more
sustainable and inclusive communities and resilience to environmental issues like climate
change.
Fortunately, progress has been made in the past decade regarding the use of renewable
electricity from water, solar and wind power and the ratio of energy used per unit of GDP is also
declining. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of people with access to electricity has
increased by 1.7 billion, and as the global population continues to rise so will the demand for
cheap energy. A global economy reliant on fossil fuels and the increase of greenhouse gas
emissions is creating drastic changes to our climate system. This is having a visible impact on
every continent. The challenge is far from being solved and there needs to be more access to
clean fuel and technology and more progress needs to be made regarding integrating renewable
energy into end-use applications in buildings, transport and industry.

5. Alternative Energy Sources
Luckily, there has been a new drive to encourage alternative energy sources, and in 2011
renewable energy accounted for more than 20% of global power generated. Still one in five
people lack access to electricity, and as the demand continues to rise there needs to be a
substantial increase in the production of renewable energy across the world.
Ensuring universal access to affordable electricity by 2030 means investing in clean energy
sources such as solar, wind and thermal. Adopting cost-effective standards for a wide range of
technologies could also reduce the global electricity consumption by buildings and industry by
14%. This means avoiding roughly
1 300 mid-size power plants. Expanding infrastructure and upgrading technology to provide
clean energy sources in all developing countries is a crucial goal that can both encourage growth
and help the environment.

6. Projects Available in Kenya
In Kenya, we have already ventured into various eco-friendly
renewable sources of energy such as the geothermal power plants in
Olkaria, Naivasha, the Ngong hills wind power plant in Ngong,
Kajiado, as well as the Turkwell and Seven Folk hydro power plants.
The upcoming Garissa solar power plant is hopefully the beginning of
many solar power plants to be established in Kenya.

7. Projects Available
Unlike geothermal and hydro electricity generation methods, CSP ensures zero hydrogen sulfide
(which causes acid rain) and greenhouse gas emissions during electricity generation. The biggest
challenge hydroelectric power plants face is a change in the pattern of silt flow and nutrients
due to the impoundment of water. Long-term damage to ecosystems and fisheries has been a
documented byproduct of a number of major hydroelectric projects. Furthermore, wind power
plants are quite unreliable as the amount of electricity output is relative to the seasons of the
year. During the cold season, electricity output can drop from as high as 25.5MW. This
irregularity in electricity generation can be curbed by CSP as the sun shines basically all year
round in places such as Garissa and Turkana.

8. Projects Available
This makes CSP a very reliable renewable source of energy. In addition, though the upcoming
Garissa solar power plant is a positive step taken toward embracing modern technology that
harnesses solar energy to generate electrical energy, one has to admit that the use of solar
photovoltaic cells has its shortcomings compared to CSP. For one, some toxic chemicals, like
Cadmium and Arsenic, are used in the PV production process, also, solar power is a variable
energy source, with energy production dependent on the sun. Solar facilities may produce no
power at all some of the time, which could lead to an energy shortage if too much of a region’s
power comes from a solar PV power plant. For one, solar PV method uses multiple components
that would need much maintenance over time – components such as battery cells for storing
the electrical energy and inverters which would convert the DC power to AC power for
distribution to the national grid and appliance-friendly household devices.

9. Case Study
The concept of CSP can be fully embraced in areas which receive the most sunshine all year
round, for instance, as mentioned above, in Garissa and Turkana areas. CSP would be most cost
effective in such areas as approximately 1MW of electricity would used to electrify every 500
homes. Considering that most of the population of people are from low income households and
hence consume a small amount of electricity, a 500MW CSP power plant would be more than
enough to electrify such an area with the excess electricity being fed into the national grid to be
used elsewhere. Not only would this be cost effective, but it would also encourage more
industrialization in the area thus raise the standard of living of the inhabitants through creating
employment opportunities and attract foreign investors to the area.

10. Process of CSP Electricity Generation
Thousands of mirrors reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a central medium, either molten
nitrate salts, oil, or water, to heat the medium which in turn is used to generate electricity.
The thousands of mirrors, more formally referred to as heliostats, are placed across two square
miles of land where they reflect and concentrated sunlight onto a heat exchanger at the top of a
550 foot tower situated at the center of the reflectors. In the heat exchanger, the fluid flows
through pipes to absorb the heat from the concentrated sunlight. The fluid is heated from
between 260-538 degrees Celsius. Many CSP plants use molten salt because it has the ability to
maintain a wider operating temperature range in liquid state thus the system operates at low
pressure and thus convenient energy capture and storage.

11. Process of CSP Electricity Generation
The fluid then flows from the heat exchanger down into a thermal storage tank where, as the
name suggests, stores heat energy for 10 to 16 hours until electricity is needed. The heated fluid
is used as both the energy collection from electricity generation. When generating electricity at
any time of day or night, the fluid is pumped to the steam generator alongside water so that the
heat from the storage fluid heats the water in order to generate the steam.
Once the hot fluid is used to generate high quality superheated steam, the now cooled fluid is
piped back to the cold storage tank where it will then be pumped back up to the heat exchanger
to be re- heated again as the process continues. The steam that would be generated is dried and
pressurized by a turbo charger so as to avoid the steam turbines rusting and also to provide the
required revolutions per minute (rpm) necessary to generate the rated power. After driving the
turbines, the steam passes through a condenser where it is condensed back into water and
returns back to the water storage tank. It will flow back into the steam generator when needed
and the cycle begins again

12. Process of CSP Electricity Generation
The steam turbine is driven at maximum efficiency to generate reliable electricity during peak
demand hours – something solar PV plants cannot do. In addition, a portion of the steam from
CSP plants can be pumped into neighboring agricultural projects or a community water tank to
aid in providing water for the community

13. Process Flow Diagram