Devki Steel Mills, a multi-product steel manufacturing firm controlled by Kenyan multimillionaire industrialist Narendra Raval, has applied for a license to generate electricity in Kenya as part of an effort to diversify its activities and increase its revenue and profitability.
Once the license is issued, Devki Steel Mills, managed by Raval, one of Kenya’s richest men, will join state-owned Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), BTE Renewables, and Kwale International Sugar Company as one of the producers selling power to the Kenya Power and Lighting Company.
The company’s strategic entry into the power industry comes as it plans to build a 60-megawatt wind power plant in Kenya as part of its transition to renewable energy.
The planned project, which will convert wind into power using a low-wind turbine, will be built by erecting 38 wind turbines outfitted with all the necessary elements.
The wind power facility will be the fourth major power plant in Kenya, following Kipeto Wind, which generates 100 megawatts of electricity, Lake Turkana Wind Power Plant, which generates 310 megawatts, and KenGen’s Ngong Wind Plant, which generates 26.1 megawatts.
Devki Steel Mills is a multi-product steel manufacturing business of the Devki Group, a privately held manufacturing conglomerate specializing in the production of building materials such as cement, aluminum, and steel.
Raval, who began Devki Group with his wife in Nairobi in 1986 as a tiny steel-processing and -trading business, eventually turned it into the largest building material and steel product maker in East and Central Africa. He owns the majority of the group.
He was reported to have a net worth of $400 million in 2015.
Last year, the Kenyan businessman invested $16.7 million to upgrade the fertilizer division of a plant that he acquired from Athi River Mining Cement in 2019.
