Bwire: Efficiency and commitment needed in ending energy poverty in Kenya

Amidst a growing realization that the energy poverty facing Kenya just like the rest of the countries in Africa remains present, President William Ruto made a very powerful mention of his intention to reverse this trend, it might not have caught the attention of many, but within some of that follow the climate change discussions, showing interest in pushing the realization of the energy sovereignty in Africa excites.

The energy deficit in our country is something that must be tackled ruthlessly if we must solve this- the country is highly endowed with several energy sources including geothermal, solar, wind and hydrological sources that it embarrasses when citizens struggle to access clean energy simply because of ambiguous and conservative policies, inefficient monopolies, stressed financial resources and corruption in the sector.

In his speech, President Ruto noted that Kenya is on a transition to 100% clean energy by 2030 and affirmed his commitment on the same. The President acknowledged that access to clean and improved cooking solutions as a contribution to Kenyans efforts towards adopting to climate change resilienceremains a challenge because of financing.

He particularly noted that the clean cooking sector require urgent attention, because its continued neglect will frustrate the country’s efforts towards dealing with pollution, improved health through decreased disease burden and mitigate adverse effects of climate change. The President noted that it’s possible to achieve these throughreducing costs of renewal energy technologies making it the most viable energy source.

Universal access to clean, reliable, modern, affordable and sustainable energy as a prerequisite for the Agenda 2063 remains a big challenge as seen through the corruption in the sector, secret negotiation of power purchase agreements, none disclosure of electricity price per unit kilo watt hour, low voltage, blackouts and reduced production in manufacturing sector. 

You remember the token issue in Kenya, the Power Purchase Agreements and related. Ksh 1000 was buying 63 units a few months ago, it’s now 45 units, we have frequent power black outs in Busijo because of faulty transformers, and even at the policy level, a solar producing firm with capital to put up a serious solar production distribution network in Busia County called Kudura cannot do that because the monopoly holding power company is being protected. Or may be its because of the war in Ukraine

Note that over 600 million people do not have access to electricity while 900 million people lack access to clean cooking energy, yet there’s still no clear investment plan to meet this clean energy needs even as the population grows.

A study by the CCAK and the Ministry of Energy entitled Kenya Household Cooking Sector Study released recently, 93.2 per cent of Kenyans in the rural areas still rely on solid fuels as their primary fuel source. Using clean cooking solutions will support the Government to restore Kenya’s forest cover to 10 per cent from the current 7 per cent. Furthermore, household air pollution brought about cooking using inefficient technologies is a key health risk factor to Kenyans.

Over the last 15 years, nearly 8,000 Megawatts has been developed by several players including private and small-scale innovative players in the sectorbut yetto beadmitted to the National Grid, for whatever reasons, largely attributed to policy makers, Thus we continue suffering not because of lacking but leadership in the sector and policy direction.

For example, South Africa with a population of 60 million people has been able to admit 58,000 Megawatts in their national grid from various developers with ESKOM leading the pack.  Nigeria with a population of 200 million people has been able to admit approximately 6,000 Megawatts only in their national grid paving way for rampant blackouts in the most populous African Country with the largest GDP.

Mozambique with a population of 31 million people has been able to admit 12,000 Megawatts in their National Grid, however Zambia with a population of 18 million people have injected 3,000 Megawatts in their National Grid.

Mr. President, there’s urgent need for a collective approach by the sector especially at the policy making levelto salvage this ailing sector that runs our day-to-dayactivities and as you rightly said, help in achieving the energy sovereignty on the continent. Kenya’s Vision 2030 and related documents like the country’s national climate change strategy and the Green Growth strategy mention this commitment and your statement is show of political goodwill, so resource the transition please.