Kenya is on course towards achieving its 100 per cent clean energy goal by 2030, President William Ruto said yesterday.

The Head of State in addition has said the country has also set a national target to achieve 100 access to Clean Cooking by 2028.

Ruto told delegates during the opening ceremony of the Africa Energy Forum (AEF) at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) that Kenya boldly invested in the development of its renewable energy potential at a time when it was not fashionable to do so.

He told the gathering that Kenya was steadily exploiting and deploying available geothermal potential, currently estimated at 10,000 Megawatts.

“What Kenya has learnt from these developments is that it is possible to achieve ambitious development goals while maintaining clean, green energy commitment,

“The decision has paid off: Renewable sources form 73 per cent of our installed electricity generation capacity, accounting for over 90 per cent of electricity generated and distributed in the country.

Maintaining that energy is one of the fundamental enablers for the infrastructure component of his administration’s bottom-up economic transformation agenda, the President said through appropriate incentives and a conducive investment climate, Kenya has mobilised necessary investment to install the biggest wind power plant in this part of the world – the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project.

Ruto said Kenya’s experience of energy sector potential, policies, investment opportunities and projects exemplify the huge possibilities within the African energy and climate action complex.

“Partnerships and collaborations in the energy sector are premised on the fact that Kenya is endowed with substantial renewable energy resources, which constitute a highly attractive investment profile,” he added.

The head of State pointed out that these interventions include a proven wind energy potential of 30,000MW with 346W per square-metre and speeds of over six metres per second. “A wind resource atlas is available with high value wind power prospects.

The Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, with a capacity of 310 MW is the largest in Africa,” Ruto said. Among other opportunities that exist in the country’s green energy annual solar insolation estimated at 4-6 kilowatt-hours per square metre per day for both off-grid and on-grid options.

A Kenya off-grid solar access project (KOSAP), he observed, is under implementation so far covering 14 under-served counties but with potential to expand the coverage to other needy regions.
Geothermal energy
Ruto also referred to the tremendous geothermal energy potential currently estimated at 10,000 MW, out of which less than 10 per cent (950 MW) has been exploited. Kenya is already the 6th largest global producer of geothermal power.
Besides there is 6,000 MW of both large and small hydro-electricity potential, 300 MW for co-generation in the sugar cane factories in Western Kenya, 29-131MW of biogas potential using various feedstocks.