Short answer: Kenyan county tenders for solar street lights are won or lost on documents. Bidders must be Kenyan-registered, deliver a physical sample before closing, and submit KEBS and country-of-origin type test reports, a lab accreditation certificate, a manufacturer’s authorisation and a warranty letter, often for at least 5 years. The specifications themselves are predictable: LiFePO4 batteries, MPPT controllers and IP65 housings.
Demand is rising. Counties are moving from grid-powered to solar street lights to cut electricity bills, and national programmes add volume on top. This checklist is based on recent county and national tenders.
Key numbers (2026)
- Nyamira County re-advertised a tender for 117 solar street lights in its CBD (CGN/T015/2025-2026), closing 27 April 2026.
- The Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation tendered solar street lights for nine counties at once in January 2026.
- Kiambu’s “Angaza Kiambu” programme moved to a second phase of about 12,000 lights.
- The State Department for Housing set up a 10-year national framework for solar street lighting at affordable housing sites, with a panel of 3 to 8 suppliers (SDHUD/784/SPPM/002/2025-26).
1. Two system types appear in tenders
Integrated solar street lights (ISSL) put the panel, battery, controller and LED in one housing. One 2025 county tender for 3,700 units specified:
| Housing | Die-cast aluminium, UV-stabilised polycarbonate cover, IP65 |
|---|---|
| Solar panel | Monocrystalline, not less than 120 W |
| Battery | LiFePO4, ≥ 700 Wh, ≥ 4,000 cycles |
| LED | > 100 W, ≥ 10,000 lm, adjustable beam angle |
| Controller | MPPT with overcharge, over-discharge, short-circuit and open-load protection |
Split-type systems mount the panel and battery separately from the LED head and suit higher outputs. A 2026 county tender for 117 lights in a town centre asked for:
| LED | 150 W, 12/24 V DC, 100,000 h lifetime (L70 at 25 °C), CRI 75 |
|---|---|
| Solar panel | Monocrystalline, 150 W, 12 V nominal |
| Battery | High-capacity lithium, 1,240 Wh or more |
| Controller | MPPT, dusk-to-dawn |
| Pole | 9 m (concrete preferred in that tender) |
| Foundation | 700 × 700 × 1,000 mm reinforced concrete, class 25/20, four M25 anchor bolts |
| Design wind speed | 100 km/h, safety factor 1.2 |
Large floodlight items sometimes appear in the same tender: one specified 200 W, 37,200 lm, CRI > 80, a 550 W panel, a LiFePO4 battery of at least 1,420 Wh and a mounting height of at least 16 m.
2. Check the energy balance, not just the line items
Tender specs list a panel, a battery and an LED separately. Before you price them, check that they work together for your site. A 150 W LED running 12 hours at full power needs 1,800 Wh a night, more than the 1,240 Wh battery in the example above. In practice the LED is dimmed through the night by the controller, so ask the supplier for the dimming profile and the resulting autonomy in rainy days. Our sizing guide walks through the calculation.
3. The documents that decide responsiveness
These were mandatory in the tenders we reviewed. Missing one usually makes a bid non-responsive:
- Catalogues and brochures with technical data for the lights, controller and battery
- A warranty letter (one county required a minimum of 5 years for integrated lights)
- A physical sample delivered before tender closing
- Type test certificates and reports, from the country of origin and from KEBS
- The accreditation certificate of the testing laboratory (ISO/IEC 17025)
- A manufacturer’s authorisation on the manufacturer’s letterhead, signed and stamped
- A valid ISO 9001:2015 certificate or KEBS mark for the manufacturer
- Contractor registration: NCA category 6 or above for electrical works, or a solar PV contractor licence
- Branding of each light with the county’s name, where specified
4. Timing
Samples have to be shipped, cleared and delivered before the closing date, and type tests take weeks. Contractors who win regularly line up their supplier, sample and test reports before the tender is advertised. New county financial years start in July, and street lighting tenders follow over the next months.
Register on e-GP first
Since 1 July 2025, all national and county government procurement in Kenya runs only through the electronic government procurement system (e-GP), and supplier registration on egpkenya.go.ke is mandatory to take part. Registration needs a Business Registration Service (BRS) number, a KRA PIN, the certificate of incorporation and official contacts.
Foreign manufacturers can start e-GP registration through an authorised person, but according to the supplier notice, BRS registration is mandatory before a contract can be awarded. In practice most foreign manufacturers still supply through a registered Kenyan contractor, which also handles the local documents.
FAQ
Can a foreign manufacturer bid directly in a Kenyan county tender?
Usually not. County tenders ask for Kenyan registration and local compliance documents, so foreign manufacturers take part by supplying a registered contractor, with an authorisation letter, samples and type test reports for the bid.
What warranty do county tenders ask for?
It varies by tender. One county required a minimum of 5 years for integrated lights. Check the warranty clause before you price, because it decides how much spare capacity the battery needs.
How early should samples ship?
Allow for shipping, customs clearance and delivery before the closing date, which usually means planning several weeks ahead. Type tests take longer, so line them up first.
How we help contractors
We configure split-type solar street lights, LED heads and steel poles to the tender’s bill of quantities, brand them for the county, and supply samples. Send us the BOQ and we will tell you honestly which of the required documents we can provide for that product and how quickly the rest can be arranged.
Sources: Nyamira County tender CGN/T015/2025-2026 (tenders.go.ke); REREC solar street lighting tender, January 2026; Kenya News Agency on Angaza Kiambu; State Department for Housing and Urban Development tender SDHUD/784/SPPM/002/2025-26; National Treasury e-GP rollout notice (Kenya Law Reform Commission) and KICC supplier notice on e-GP registration, 2025. Specifications quoted from published county tender documents (2025–2026). Always follow the documents of the tender you bid on. Related: solar street lights for Nigeria, anti-theft design, our solar street lights.