Kenya · Licensing

How to become a licensed
solar technician in Kenya

The honest route: pick the right EPRA class, meet its prerequisites, log real site experience, prepare your method, and sit the assessment. Training gets you ready — EPRA issues the licence.

Verify every requirement and fee with EPRA before you apply.

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Classes

Which licence class are you aiming at?

Small standalone DC systems

Solar home systems, DC lighting and small standalone installations — the work where safe isolation, correct sizing of the DC side and honest commissioning evidence decide whether the system survives its first year.

• Identify every block of an unfamiliar PV system before touching a tool
• Isolate and prove dead on the DC side, then keep proving it
• Take meaningful DC voltage, current and continuity measurements under load

Medium systems with inverters and batteries

Systems with inverters, charge control and battery storage, where AC and DC hazards coexist and diagnosis has to separate a module problem from a controller problem from a battery problem.

• Follow an installation sequence that protects torque, weatherproofing and conductor integrity
• Read inverter behaviour and fault codes instead of guessing at replacement
• Work battery storage safely, respecting stored energy and shutdown order

Grid-tied and hybrid systems

Grid-connected and hybrid installations where interconnection procedure, protection settings, monitoring and documentation matter as much as the physical build.

• Commission to spec and prove performance with condition-corrected numbers
• Work an intermittent or systemic fault to a defensible conclusion
• Use monitoring data as evidence rather than decoration

The route

Seven steps, in order

Step 1
Decide which licence class matches your work
T1 covers small standalone DC systems, T2 medium systems with inverters and storage, T3 grid-tied and hybrid. Applying for a class above your real experience is the most common way to waste an application fee.
Step 2
Check the prerequisites for that class
Higher classes expect prior classification, formal training and documented site experience. Confirm the current prerequisites with EPRA before you build a file around assumptions.
Step 3
Get technical training that builds method, not just theory
Assessors watch decision order: what you check first, what you prove dead, what you record. Graded diagnostic labs rehearse exactly that before you stand in front of anyone.
Step 4
Log supervised site experience
Work under a licensed technician or contractor and keep a real log — sites, system types, your role, dates. This is the part no online course can substitute.
Step 5
Prepare and submit the application
Assemble identification, academic and training certificates, experience evidence and the application fee, and submit through EPRA's published channel.
Step 6
Sit the assessment
Expect written and practical components appropriate to the class. Rehearse isolation, prove-dead, measurement and recording until the sequence is automatic under observation.
Step 7
Maintain and upgrade
Licences are renewed, and moving up a class means fresh evidence. Keep your commissioning records and site log current from day one rather than reconstructing them later.

Application

What the application involves

Confirm you meet the academic and experience requirements for the class you want
Prepare supporting documents (ID, academic certificates, training certificates, experience evidence)
Apply through the EPRA online licensing portal
Pay the required fees
Await processing (technician licences are typically processed within up to 60 days)

Class	Application	Grant	Renewal
T1	KSh 250	KSh 1,000	KSh 500
T2	KSh 500	KSh 2,000	KSh 750
T3	KSh 750	KSh 3,000	KSh 1,000

Fees are indicative and change. Verify the current schedule on the EPRA website before budgeting.

Preparation

Where the Academy fits

The Solar Technical Training track is $397 one-time — about KES 51,200, indicative — with 16 modules and 30 graded diagnostic labs that drill the method an assessor watches for: isolate, prove dead, measure, interpret, record. It does not replace supervised site hours or the official assessment, and it does not issue a licence.

Also read: preparing for the EPRA practical assessment.

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FAQ

Licensing questions

How do I become a licensed solar technician in Kenya?+

Identify the EPRA licence class that matches your work, meet the training and experience prerequisites for that class, submit an application with supporting evidence and the fee, and pass the assessment. EPRA publishes the definitive requirements and is the only body that issues the licence.

How long does it take?+

It depends on the class and on how much documented site experience you already have. Technicians who are already working and only need to sharpen method and assemble evidence move fastest; someone entering the trade should plan in months, not weeks.

Do I need to be an electrician first?+

Requirements differ by class, and higher-class and grid-tied work carries additional expectations. Confirm with EPRA for your specific case before enrolling in anything on that basis.

How much does the EPRA licence cost?+

Fees vary by class and change over time. Treat any figure you read online — including ours — as indicative and verify the current schedule on the EPRA website before budgeting.

Will online training get me licensed?+

No. Training prepares you; EPRA licenses you. Online graded labs build the diagnostic method assessors test, but supervised site hours and the official assessment cannot be replaced.

Training, not licensing

EcoPowerHub Academy is independent technical training. It prepares technicians for assessment but does not issue, guarantee or substitute for an EPRA licence, NITA accreditation or any registration. Licensing decisions, practical assessment and logged experience remain with the named authority, and live electrical work must only be carried out by qualified, licensed persons.

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