If Garissa Solar Power plant can produce a staggering 55MW from 200,000 solar panels surely one should be able to fit just a few solar panels on the roof to power the entire house (and perhaps a borehole) without the need for KPLC, ama?

All you solar tech gurus or those who have installed solar off the grid on their property, is this possible? If yes, how much would such a system cost (say for a 250sqm maisonette with heavy daily use)?

Thanks in advance Wazuans.

The good thing about solar is you can start small you don't have to splash cash, but start out with a good inverter go for overkill get 10,000 watt if there is any, then get the 24 volt sealed batteries with our Kenyan weather you can expect 15 years of acceptable service, then a good charge controller of say 60 amps, do the normal AC wiring for your house but for the solar panels to batteries and batteries to inverter go for overkill the thickest you can afford. for starts you can power all your lights, tv, radio and fridge fullly with a 150k system, shirtlif have those submersible solar DC pumps, you can do a separate system for the pumps,
harder to power by solar are
cookers
air-conditioners
washing machines and driers.
house heaters and irons.
check out this guy on youtube

I have a friend in Australia whose whole house is solar powered and he sells back to the grid.

Indeed this is 100% possible, in fact I am very encouraged. I want to install a system that will avoid Kenya power 100%. Those vultures keep increasing charges year after year. Kumbe with a one time investment in solar I can kiss them goodbye forever. Wazua kweli is worth its weight in gold. Asante sana all for the help.

Which is the best brand for a domestic solar water heater? There are so many brands in the market it's confusing.

That is quite a bit of usage bro, Kwani that house has a secret factory in the garage? I would however gladly invest that amount on a 100% off the grid solar system, especially if the land is in the middle of nowhere in the dustbowl. It pays for itself many times over in terms of convenience and returns from irrigation.

Great tip. I think hybrid with wind would work great for Ngong. Whenever I am hapo and outdoors I always feel those wind gusts big time even from near the bottom of the valley! No wonder Kengen tapped into this precious resource there. I also see these mini windmill things on the roundabout after the "tunnel" into Kitengela which means Kitengela has wind potential. They are always spinning full speed. I wonder how much power they generate compared to solar.

I was at that roundabout yesterday and those things were spinning fullspeed but looks like the hybrid setup was vandalized..the solar panels as well as control panel all missing,a pithy..

How much would you pay KPLC per month?If its say 5k,it would take you 18yrs to pay KPLC 1.1M.
Is solar really cheap in this case?

I see solar not as a cheaper option to Kenya power but a cheaper backup option compared to diesel generator, by the way a 1.1 million solar system can power a medium household fully including any baking or jacuzzi, the good thing with solar is that you can afford to waste power eg you can even boil car washing water during the day since your batteries are fully charged by midday.
Anther advantage is reliability solar in Kenya is reliable than KPLC so those blackouts will be less annoying.
For 1.1 M you can go for lithium ion batteries which are more power dense.