Lean Energy Solutions has commissioned a 2.4 MW rooftop solar PV system at Davis & Shirtliff's Nairobi manufacturing facility — one of the largest single-building industrial rooftop solar installations in Kenya this year, projected to save KES 28–34 million annually.
Lean Energy Solutions Kenya has successfully commissioned a 2.4 MW rooftop solar photovoltaic installation at the Davis & Shirtliff Group's manufacturing and assembly facility in Nairobi. The project — one of the largest rooftop solar installations on a single commercial building in Kenya's industrial sector this year — positions Davis & Shirtliff to generate the majority of its daytime electricity needs from on-site renewable energy, significantly reducing both its grid electricity costs and its carbon footprint.
Project Background
Davis & Shirtliff, East Africa's leading water and energy solutions group, engaged Lean Energy Solutions following a comprehensive site energy audit that identified on-site solar generation as the highest-return investment available. The factory's large, structurally suitable roof area and substantial daytime electricity demand — driven by assembly operations, compressors, HVAC, and warehousing equipment — created near-ideal conditions for a rooftop solar installation at commercial scale. Grid electricity represented one of the facility's top three operational costs, and KPLC commercial tariff increases over the preceding two years had accelerated the business case.
Technical Specifications
The 2.4 MWp system comprises high-efficiency monocrystalline solar modules mounted on a custom racking structure engineered to the existing roof's loading capacity and orientation. Three-phase string inverters with grid-tie protection and KPLC-approved anti-islanding systems ensure safe, net-metering-compatible operation across all three production shifts. The installation is fully integrated with Lean Energy's IoT monitoring platform, giving Davis & Shirtliff live visibility into generation output, consumption, grid import, and surplus export — updated in real time via a dashboard accessible to the facility management team.
Installation was completed in phases to avoid disruption to active production areas. Lean Energy's project team coordinated closely with Davis & Shirtliff's facilities management to schedule rooftop work during weekend shifts and non-critical production windows. The full system was energised and handed over to the client within the contracted programme, with zero lost production days recorded across the installation period.
Energy and Financial Performance
At full operation, the 2.4 MW system is projected to generate approximately 3,600 MWh of electricity per year. At current KPLC commercial tariffs, this translates to annual electricity cost savings in the range of KES 28–34 million, with a simple payback period of under seven years. The project is structured under EPRA's net metering framework, allowing surplus generation during lower-demand periods to be credited against nighttime grid consumption, maximising the financial return across the full operating day.
For Davis & Shirtliff, the investment also provides a partial hedge against future KPLC tariff increases. With electricity prices having risen over 30% in real terms since 2021, the ability to self-generate a significant share of the facility's consumption locks in a known cost baseline for the 25-year design life of the modules — a form of energy price certainty that grid supply cannot offer.
Environmental Impact
The system will avoid approximately 2,100 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions annually — equivalent to removing over 450 passenger vehicles from Kenya's roads each year. For Davis & Shirtliff, this supports the group's sustainability strategy and strengthens its ESG performance with institutional customers, export market partners, and investors who increasingly require verified emissions reduction data as part of supplier and partner due diligence.
A Milestone for Kenya's Industrial Solar Market
The Davis & Shirtliff installation adds to Lean Energy Solutions' portfolio of large-scale commercial and industrial solar projects across East Africa, which now totals over 15 MW of commissioned rooftop capacity. Projects of this scale demonstrate that the economic and technical case for multi-megawatt rooftop solar on Kenyan industrial facilities is fully proven — the question for most facility owners is no longer whether to invest, but when and at what scale.
Lean Energy Solutions is currently in design and feasibility stages on several further multi-megawatt rooftop projects across the manufacturing, FMCG, and logistics sectors in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu. For organisations with significant roof area and electricity bills above KES 2 million per month, a preliminary solar feasibility assessment typically takes two to three weeks and is provided at no cost as part of our initial engagement.
About Davis & Shirtliff Group
Davis & Shirtliff Group is East Africa's leading supplier of water and energy solutions, with operations spanning Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Zambia. The group's Nairobi facility serves as its primary assembly, warehousing, and service centre for the region, supplying pumps, generators, solar systems, and water treatment equipment to customers across East Africa.
LES Kenya Communications
Energy Specialist, Lean Energy Solutions Kenya
