Kenya ranked third in renewable energy capital investments in the Middle East and Africa region in 2018. In the year, UNEP reports that Kenya attracted $1.4 billion (145 billion) investments in renewable energy.
The investment was split between geothermal (Sh50.4bn), wind (sh49.4bn), and solar (sh48.5bn). In addition, the largest deals in the country were Sh38 billion ($366m) for the 83MW KenGen Olkaria I unit 6 geothermal plant and sh34.6 billion ($333m) for the 100MW Actis Kipeto wind farm.
The huge capital investments deepen Kenya’s quest to increase cheap and green energy and do away with expensive sources of energy. For instance, wind power sells at Sh8 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) compared to sh15 charged for thermal power.
The Middle East and Africa region saw capacity allocations jump 61% to $16.1 billion in 2018. South Africa, Morocco, and Kenya eased past the $1 billion (Sh100bn) investment.
South Africa attracted $4.1 billion of capacity investment in 2018, followed by Morocco with $2.6 billion, and then Kenya closes the top three with $1.4 billion.
Kenya has ranked ahead of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UNEP report says that the MEA region has the most promising markets for renewable energy especially solar due to the abundance of sunshine year-round and increasing demand for electricity.
