Energy Expo in Nairobi Comes to an end with calls on Governments to embrace renewable energy

Stakeholders in the renewable energy subsector are calling on governments across Eastern and Sub-Saharan Africa to embrace more green energy solutions in order to achieve universal electrification by the year 2030.

Kenya is rich in renewable energy resources such as hydro, wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy and this outstanding potential can be efficiently exploited to boost generation to cope with the strong load growth and enhance electrification of the country.

“By 2030, eighty percent renewable energy in this country is achievable. The Green Economy Strategy for Kenya highlights the need to look at positive energy solutions and explore further on a win-win solution with county governments”, said Environment Cabinet secretary while speaking at the conference that was attended by over 300 participants and more than 70 speakers including representatives of the Kenyan government, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), regional and international organizations, private sector, academia and civil society.

Whereas the urban electrification rate attains 60%, in rural areas the electrification rate is 10% compensated by a strong use of solid biomass by the non-electrified citizens.

Mining Cabinet Secretary Dan Kazungu who officiated the closing of the event added that there is the need for more Hybrid solar power plants and other innovative forms of renewable energy to reduce the fuel costs of mines and industry and provide reliable power at predictable rates.

“Mining and drilling operations often sit in remote areas, far from established electricity infrastructure. Yet, they often have significant power needs on the order of tens of megawatts and tens of gigawatt-hours per site. This has seen most miners use diesel generators provided to provide this power demand. However, they are expensive to fuel and sometimes harmful to miners’ health especially the Small-Scale mining sub-sector. Therefore access to reliable and cost-effective forms of energy is a strategic priority not just for Kenya and Africa, but also for the global mining sector”, CS Kazungu added.

Kenya is one of the fastest growing countries in East Africa and has made remarkable progress in unlocking its already recognized renewable energy potential.

“RES4Africa aims to follow-up on its commitment to help drive Kenya’s sustainable energy transition by creating more opportunities for multi-stakeholder dialogue, sharing market intelligence and fostering capacity building, with a distinct role for the private sector”, said Roberto Vigotti, RES4MED&Africa Secretary-General.

A “Micro-Grid Academy” and the results of a grid integration study of nonprogrammable renewables in the National Electric System of Kenya were some of the deliverables officially launched during the two-day event as part of the roadmap to accelerating the country’s integration of renewable energy.