Kenya Ranked Top In Africa And The Middle East In Renewable Energy Investments

A United Nations Environment Programme report has ranked Kenya as the third country in the Middle East and Africa with the highest investments in the renewable energy sector,it attracted USD 1.4 Bn (KES 145 Bn investment in 2018.

This comes at a time when Kenya has shifted focus from expensive source of power in quest of cheap and green energy.

Recently President Uhuru Kenyatta unveiled Africa’s largest wind power, Lake Turkana Wind Power which will generate 310 megawatts of power.

“Kenya saw an investment of $1.4 billion in 2018, the highest on record, and split almost equally between geothermal at $486 million (Sh50.4 billion), wind at $476 million (Sh49.4 billion) and solar at $467 million (Sh48.5 billion),” the report noted.

It came after South Africa and Morocco who attracted USD4.1 billion (KES 426 bn) and USD3.1 bn (Sh322 bn) respectively.

The East African country toppled Egypt, United Arabs Emirates, Jordan, and Rwanda to join to be a leader for green energy.

Some of the major investments include the USD 366 million (KES 38 bn) channeled to the 83 megawatts (MW) KenGen Olkaria I unit 6 geothermal plant, and USD 333 million (KES 34.6 bn) for the 100MW Actis Kipeto wind farm.

The Middle East and Africa region saw capacity allocations jump 61% to USD 16.1 billion in 2018, UN says that the region has some of the most promising markets for renewables.

UNEP also hailed Kenya for increased installation of small-scale solar systems. For instance, Moi International Airport in Mombasa’s 500kW solar project which is the first at an African air travel hub.

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