Kenya Looks to Double Power Generation Capacity by 2020

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Kenyan energy sector is under the oversight of the Ministry of Energy, which has four sub-sectors: power, fossil fuels, biomass and renewables. Kenya's energy supply mix is 68% biomass, 22% petroleum, 9% electricity, and 1% coal and coke.

Kenya's energy sector faces challenges such as:

• High dependency on biomass
• Volatility of oil prices, which has a negative impact on many sectors
• Low electricity grid access, at about 18%

As Kenya's economy has grown, energy consumption has increased steadily from 5.1 billion kilowatt hours in 2005 to 6.9 billion kilowatt hours in 2010, and is expected to be 11.8 billion kilowatt hours in 2019-20. In the long term, the installed capacity is projected to increase by 1,342 megawatts (MW) until 2018-19, and will comprise geothermal-power (503 MW), hydropower (220.6 MW) and thermal-power (568.7 MW) sources, according to the government's electricity sector plan.

Kenya has an ambitious program for electricity sector expansion to satisfy its long-term development strategy until 2030, with the cooperation of the World Bank. There are two objectives:

• Increase the capacity, efficiency and quality of the electricity supply
• Expand access to electricity in urban, semi-urban, and rural areas

This program consists of four components: geothermal generation; transmission; distribution; and sector institutional development and operational support.

Kenya's electricity sector has two major public companies. Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) (Nairobi-Kenya) is a limited-liability company responsible for the transmission, distribution and retail of electricity throughout Kenya. KPLC is also responsible for ensuring that there is adequate line capacity to maintain the supply and quality of electricity across the country. The interconnected network of transmission and distribution lines covers about 23,000 kilometers. The other major public company is KenGen (Nairobi-Kenya), which is in direct competition with four independent power producers, as it produces about 18% of the country's electric power.

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