Licensing for Solar Installers and Contractors in Kenya: What EPRA Requires

Anyone who wants to design, manufacture, import, sell or install solar photovoltaic systems in Kenya needs a licence under a dedicated 2012 regulatory regime, separate from the general business licensing that applies to any company. The regulator is now the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, EPRA, the statutory successor to the Energy Regulatory Commission named in the regulations themselves.

The Three Licence Types

The Energy (Solar Photovoltaic Systems) Regulations, 2012 set out three separate licensing tracks, and a business often needs more than one.

Technicians must be individually licensed under regulation 4 before designing or installing any solar PV system, in one of three classes: Class T1 for small single-battery systems up to 100 Wp, Class T2 for medium systems with multiple batteries or an inverter, and Class T3 for advanced systems including grid-connected and hybrid installations.

Manufacturers of solar PV systems and components must be licensed under regulation 5 before engaging in that business at all.

Vendors, importers and contractors are licensed under regulation 6, again in three classes: Class C1 entitles the holder to design and install solar PV systems, and requires the licensee to employ or be a Class T3 technician; Class V1 entitles the holder to design, distribute, promote, sell or install systems, requiring a Class T2 technician; and Class V2 entitles the holder to manufacture or import systems or components, also requiring a Class T2 technician. A company selling and installing solar systems will typically need a vendor or contractor licence for the company itself, and at least one individually licensed technician on staff at the class the work requires.

A company planning to install grid-connected commercial solar systems, for example, needs a Class C1 contractor licence for the business and at least one Class T3 technician on staff, since Class T3 is the only tier that covers advanced, grid-connected and hybrid work. A company that only distributes and sells panels through retail outlets, without doing the installation itself, fits more naturally under a Class V1 vendor licence with a Class T2 technician, since installation work at that level does not require the advanced T3 qualification. Getting the class wrong at the outset, licensing the company as a V1 vendor while its technicians actually do C1-level grid-connected work, is one of the more common gaps EPRA inspections find.

What Each Application Requires

Applications are made on prescribed forms: ERC 002 for a manufacturer, ERC 003 for a technician, specifying the class applied for, and ERC 004 for a manufacturer, importer, vendor or contractor, again specifying the class. Technician applicants must meet the qualifications and experience set out in the First Schedule to the Regulations. Every application is accompanied by the fee set out in the Second Schedule. Under regulation 7, the Authority must process applications within ninety days of receipt, and a licence, once granted, is valid for one year from the date of issue. A technician must practise for at least two years at their current class before applying to upgrade to a higher one.

Ongoing Obligations Once Licensed

Licensing is the start of the compliance burden, not the end of it. Under regulation 8, every installation must follow the relevant Kenya Standard, and the vendor or contractor must prepare a system design declaration covering the customer’s electrical needs and the proposed design, signed by both the vendor or contractor and the customer, unless the customer sources individual components from different vendors and confirms in writing that they did not want the vendor’s design input. On commissioning, the technician or contractor must issue an installation completion certificate recording the date, installer, owner, location, capacity and warranty.

Regulation 9 requires a warranty on the system and its components, and on any consumer device incorporating a solar PV system, for the periods set out in the Fourth Schedule, with the warranty period clearly displayed on any product on show. Regulation 10 requires compliance with the Environmental Management Coordination Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act on manufacture, sale, installation, use and disposal, and appropriate safety and health warning labels on both components and completed installations. Regulation 12 requires every licensee to give the customer the documentation set out in the Fifth Schedule, to keep records for a minimum of five years, and to report annual sales volumes and value to the Authority by 31 March each year.

Compliance, Inspection and Renewal

EPRA or its agent may inspect a licensee’s operations at any time under regulation 13, and can issue a non-compliance notice setting out the provisions breached, the steps needed to fix it, and a compliance deadline. A licensee can request a compliance certificate after inspection, valid for one year, at their own cost. Under regulation 15, EPRA may suspend or revoke a licence once satisfied the licensee has contravened the Regulations. Renewal applications must be made, with the prescribed fee, at least thirty days before the current licence expires, under regulation 14; leaving renewal to the last minute risks a gap in an otherwise continuous licence.