Ecobank Kenya Limited and African renewable energy company Distributed Power Africa (DPA) have signed a Master Agreement for the rollout of solar power solutions in seven Ecobank branches and offices across Kenya.

The branches and offices include Ecobank Head Office, Fortis Office Park branch, Kisumu branch, Eldoret branch, Karatina branch, Nyeri branch, Thika branch and Mombasa Moi Avenue.

In a statement released to the media, DPA said last year it successfully implemented three solar projects for Ecobank in Cote d’Ivoire followed by a power needs assessment in over 130 other Ecobank branches, and led to Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the parent company of Ecobank Kenya, taking their green journey to 13 countries across Africa.

Most of the solutions will be grid-tied with photovoltaic (PV), and in some countries DPA will install hybrid solutions with PV, batteries and diesel generators (DG) for 100% power guarantee, according to the statement.

East & West Africa DPA CEO, Moncef Mettiji said: “We look forward to this project as an opportunity to showcase our engineering expertise in the market. For DPA, this is a major development in the financial sector as solar power is certainly the sustainable alternate energy solution to increase businesses’ efficiencies.”

DPA’s track record of execution includes datacentre solutions for Liquid Telecom in Nairobi, Johannesburg and Cape Town, a healthcare facility solution for Aga Khan as well as solutions for Massmart in South Africa, and Schweppes and UNESCO in Zimbabwe.

The energy company adds that with increasing electricity costs from national power suppliers, many are considering renewable energy as a way to reduce costs.

Commenting on the partnership, Ecobank Kenya Managing Director & Regional Executive Central, Eastern and Southern Africa (CESA), Cheikh Travaly said: “Our partnership with Distributed Power Africa (DPA) on solar retrofitting in our branches is in line with our commitment to create a healthy financial system, promote environmentally friendly solutions and pursue sustainability of our banking services”.