Over the last decade, millions of consumers in the U.S., Europe and other parts of the developed world have embraced wind power and other sources of renewable energy as an alternative to coal, reducing their greenhouse gas footprint.
Their counterparts in Eastern Africa are watching climate change in action, stripping the once abundant snow drifts from the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro. For them the choice is even simpler: they desperately need electricity and renewable power is often the only option.
Take Kenya, for example. The country is no longer just a Safari destination, but also the home of places like the iHub, a large innovation hub for the tech community in the capital Nairobi where engineers, investors, and companies exchange ideas and start new ventures. Kenya's economy is expanding at a 5 percent annual clip and its population ballooned by a third over the last decade to 42 million. The growth has been stoking power demand by 7 percent per year over the last six years, and it is expected to top 12 percent by 2030.
Yet only between 16 to 18 percent of Kenyans have access to electricity, leaving some 35 million residents dependent on kerosene, candles, and wood. They will certainly not set the economy on fire.
Big industrial companies like GE and non-profits are coming to help. Last summer, GE and the U.S. Africa Development Foundation (USADF) launched the Off-Grid Energy Innovation Challenge in Kenya and Nigeria. Jay Ireland, president and CEO of GE Africa, says that the program will give 20 grants of up to $100,000 to Africans and businesses "to develop and expand off-grid solutions for communities and businesses that would not otherwise have access to electricity." The first winners were announced this month.
GE is also adding new power generation capacity. This week Ireland announced that GE would supply Kenya's Kinangop Wind Farm with 38 wind turbines each capable of generating 1.6 megawatts of electricity. The turbines will stand on a windy plateau near Nairobi, some 200 miles north of Mt. Kilimanjaro in neighboring Tanzania. They will produce enough electricity to supply 150,000 homes
GE is also helping the Kenya Electricity Transmission utility build the Nairobi Ring, a new electricity distribution system that includes a high-voltage network, four new substations and other technology. Says Ireland: "We bring in technology, but the people on the ground have valuable insights on what works best for Africa."
