Kelvin Njuguna, 33, considers himself a 'full-time farmer'.
He rears cows, pigs, goats, and chickens on his one-and-a-half-acre farm in Kiambu county about 25km from Nairobi, selling meat products through three butcheries, while also growing avocados and passion fruit.
Njuguna prides himself in being an innovative farmer, who 'thinks outside the box'. That extends to his power consumption.
"I produce electricity from animal waste in large quantities daily and save lots of money on monthly power bills," he said, adding that he relies 100 per cent on green energy.
"I rarely experience issues like power blackouts in my home. I pay my child's tuition fees comfortably, and I have another child on the way as my wife is pregnant."
Solomon Kamau is the manager of Sistema Bio, a company in Kiambu county that sells biodigesters to small and medium-sized farmers.
He said animal excrement is increasingly becoming a game-changer for farmers, with his company providing services to around 20 new farmers every month.
"If you want to produce electricity from chicken poop and droppings from other livestock, you first convert it to biogas then into electricity. That is the process and it's very easy," he said, adding that at least 40 litres of animal waste is needed each day to produce biogas.
If you want to produce electricity from chicken poop and droppings from other livestock, you first convert it to biogas then into electricity. That is the process and it's very easy
"We collect faeces from chickens, cows and pigs. It is sometimes mixed, and that is very effective.
"Chicken poop is very effective, but one has to be careful when collecting it as it gets contaminated with sawdust.
"Chicken farmers who use the cage system produce pure droppings, resulting in good quality biogas."
WHAT IT COSTS
Kamau said the prices for the systems he provides can range from just $800 to as much as $10,000. The process involves a specific bacteria, known as syntrophic acetogenic bacteria, being produced.
This bacteria breaks down the biodegradable components for microbes to convert into methane through fermentation. Oxygen is absent in this process, which takes place in an airtight chamber and is called anaerobic digestion.
And it is not just farmers who are buying the system. It has also become increasingly popular with larger homeowners in some of Nairobi's upmarket neighbourhoods, Kamau said.
The government is also exploring the possibility of implementing this technology to add extra megawatts to the national grid, which is currently run almost entirely on renewable energy.
It is currently searching for suitable land to construct a 45MW facility. The project will involve collaboration between the Environment and Energy ministries.
"Our ambition is that we merge this technology into our national grid. Or we look at an alternative of buying off the green electricity from farmers regularly," Environment CS Soipan Tuya said.
Kenya leads in biogas policies and investments in Africa, and has made the most progress towards establishing viable biodigester markets.
Data from Energy Capital and Power, an Africa-focused global investment platform for the energy sector, shows that Kenya has 17,000 household biogas digesters and 8,000 biogas plants.
Currently, more than 75 per cent of energy in Kenya is generated from renewable sources, primarily geothermal power and hydropower.