Kenya: U.S. Govt to Support Kenya's Clean Energy Transition

23 June 2024
Capital FM (Nairobi)
By Wangechi Purity

Nairobi — The United States Department of Energy has revealed investment plans for Kenya's green energy transition, focusing on e-mobility and the clean power generation sector.

Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Energy David Turk affirmed that the country has great potential for the generation of clean energy, which attracts possible investments from the federal state.

"The fact that you all have 93 percent of your electricity generated from renewables, that makes us very envious. That's not where we're at in the U.S. We have much more fossil fuels on our grid than you all do. The geothermal that you all have is a leader in the world," said Turk.

He stated that the US State Department of Energy is closely working with the Kenyan government to create an enabling environment for the green energy sector.

"It's not just working on the financing in isolation. It's a lot of the policy infrastructure, capacity infrastructure necessary to leverage and get the kinds of financial flows that are possible with clean energy as a cornerstone, and leaning into that comparative advantage that you all have in Kenya," added Turk.

In May this year, Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and the European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson launched the Kenya Green Resilient Electricity System Programme, which will support the nation's goal of a complete 100 percent transition to clean power generation by 2030.

The programme aims to boost Kenya's sustainable energy efforts by providing critical investments to expand the country's production of green electricity as well as improving grid stability and efficiency.

Kenya sources up to 91 percent of its energy from renewable sources, including 47 percent from geothermal, 30 percent hydro, 12 percent wind, and 2 percent solar energy.

According to Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), the country has the potential to increase its capacity to as much as 10,000 MW of geothermal energy, which would more than match peak demand in Kenya, which is currently about 2,000 MW.

Peter Ronko also contributed to the piece

Read the original article on Capital FM.

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