Kenya has set an ambitious target to cut its energy prices and improve the transmission networks to better serve its growing economy, says its Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Davis Chirchir. He said this decision has been taken for Kenya to remain a competitive investment destination in the region. The country is also tweaking its energy mix in favour of more renewable and green energy because of climate change.
Kenya has about 94% of its energy as renewables, including geothermal, wind, and hydro energy. The Government has set a target that the country’s energy generation will be carbon-neutral by 2030.
Energy & Petroleum CS Chirchir said the country intends to phase out all fossil-based energy generation. But first, Kenya must attract global funds to assist in improving access to electricity, which currently stands at about 35% of the population.
The country dispatches geothermal power, from the drilling wells to the national grid, which constitutes about 50% of Kenya’s power generation mix.
Effects of climate change have hit the country’s hydro-power generation capacity, which now stands at 33% of the overall energy mix. Due to the impact of climate change, the country has had to shift its focus to geothermal energy sources which are very expensive to develop.
While it costs about $ 3 million per MW to generate geothermal power, Kenya has been able to sign power purchasing agreements with independent power producers or KenGen at between 6.5 and 7 cents.
“So we are focused on bringing down costs. The price of solar panels has come down significantly. As we go forward because of technological advances in terms of panels, our capacity for wind masts and solar panels is good and we are in the right place at the right time. We will work closely with the regulator so we continue to dispatch the best price source to the grid, “said CS Chirchir.
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