Cost comparison: UPS vs solar backup
UPS bands from Afrigadget Labs; solar bands from Solar Company Kenya, both third-party market sources. Confirm current pricing with your chosen supplier.
| System | Typical starting cost (Kenya, 2026) | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Entry UPS (650–1000VA) | KES 12,500–18,500 | Single router/ONT, brief outages |
| Small office UPS (1100–1500VA) | KES 16,500–65,000 | Router + switch, office setups |
| Small solar backup (1kW) | From approximately KES 120,000 | Lights, router, a few sockets, grid-connected sites with frequent outages |
| Larger solar backup (3kW+) | From approximately KES 350,000 | Off-grid or remote sites needing sustained power |
Where solar actually pays off
At a grid-connected home or office with brief, occasional outages, a UPS covers the need at a fraction of solar's upfront cost. At a remote WISP tower site with no reliable grid connection, or frequent extended outages, solar's ongoing running cost, essentially free once installed aside from maintenance, starts to outweigh its higher upfront price over a couple of years.
When a simple UPS is still the right call
If your outages are short and infrequent, and your site has reliable grid power most of the time, a UPS remains the simpler, cheaper, lower-maintenance choice. Solar is solving a problem you may not have.
Sizing solar for a remote tower site
A remote site's solar backup needs to be sized to the tower's actual continuous load, router, backhaul radio, any switches, plus enough battery capacity to bridge overnight or extended cloudy-day gaps. This is a site-specific calculation, not a one-size answer.