Solar installation cost in Kenya (2026): panels, inverters, batteries

Solar is priced in three parts that people tend to see as one: the panels that make power, the inverter that turns it into something your sockets can use, and the batteries that keep it for the night and for outages. This guide prices each from our shop on 6 October 2026 and builds one complete home system from them.

How much do solar panels cost in Kenya?

Panels are the cheapest part per watt and the easiest to add later. Our shop lists full-size panels from KES 10,500 to KES 24,000:

• 300 W and 450 W Orchid panelsKES 10,500
• 345 W Solinc panelKES 14,900
• 550 W mono half-cut panelKES 15,000
• 545 W Trina monocrystalline panelKES 24,000

What does an inverter cost?

A hybrid inverter runs the panels, the batteries and the grid together, which is what most homes and offices in Kenya want because KPLC remains the fallback. Our Deye hybrid range is KES 112,000 for 3.6 kW, KES 133,500 for 5 kW, KES 138,000 for 6 kW and KES 218,000 for 8 kW, rising to KES 418,000 for 16 kW. Larger commercial inverters run from KES 230,000 to over KES 800,000.

Batteries: lead-acid or lithium?

This is the decision that moves the total most:

• 12 V 200 Ah gel and tubular lead-acid batteries: KES 28,500 to KES 33,000 each
• 5.12 kWh lithium (LiFePO4) battery: KES 156,000
• 10.24 kWh lithium battery: KES 260,000
• 15.36 kWh lithium battery: KES 355,000

Lead-acid is cheaper to buy and should not be drained deeply, so much of its rated capacity is not usable day to day. Lithium costs more up front, can be discharged much further and lasts many more cycles, which is why it usually wins over the life of the system. The right answer depends on how many hours of backup you need and how often the power goes.

A 5 kW home system, line by line

• Deye 5 kW 48 V hybrid inverterKES 133,500
• Taico 5.12 kWh lithium batteryKES 156,000
• 4 panels of 550 W at KES 15,000KES 60,000
• EquipmentKES 349,500
• Labour at 30% of equipmentKES 104,850
• VAT at 16%KES 72,696
• TotalKES 527,046

Mounting rails, DC and AC cabling, the combiner box and surge protection are left out of that figure because they depend on your roof and the distance to the distribution board. In our shop a surge protector is KES 2,900 and combiner boxes start at KES 2,500; the survey measures the rest.

Only need backup, not solar?

If the goal is to ride through outages rather than to cut the bill, an inverter with batteries and no panels does that for less, and a UPS covers a single computer or network cabinet: our APC units start at KES 23,500 for 1200 VA.

Sizing comes before pricing

The most expensive mistake in solar is sizing from the wrong list. Start with what must stay on and for how long, then size the battery, then the inverter, then the panels. Our article on sizing a backup system walks through it, and our engineers do the load count with you at a site survey before anything is quoted.