Kenya; Kenya is the second largest investor in renewable energy in Africa. It is, however, a distant second, with the investment value standing at a modest Sh21 billion ($249m) last year compared to South Africa.
South Africa’s renewable energy sector received investments worth Sh390 billion ($4.9 b). South Africa’s investments were the highest in the continent.
The investments by the two African leaders are meagre in comparison to money pumped into renewable energy by US at $35.8 billion, which was the largest investor in renewable energy globally in 2013.
The investments by Kenya were also a paltry share of the total new investment in renewable power and fuels at $249.4 billion in 2013.
The investments are detailed in a new report dubbed Renewables 2014 – the Global Status Report.
“South Africa led the African continent, although it was down from $5.7 billion the previous year, recording investment of $4.9 billion (excluding research and development and small-scale projects).
This was almost entirely in the form of asset financing for wind and solar power,” said the report backed by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
“The second largest investor in Africa was Kenya ($249m), followed by Mauritius and Burkina Faso,” says the report. Despite the dismal investments in its energy sector, Kenya is seen to be making efforts in growing its electricity from renewable energy sources.
The report ranks Kenya fourth globally in terms of the investments made to grow power generation from geothermal.
It follows after New Zealand, Turkey and the US, in the list of the countries that invested heavily in electricity production using geothermal.
The report ranks the country tenth in terms of new generation capacity from geothermal added to the installed electricity generating capacity.According to the report, Kenya grew its energy capacity from geothermal by 8 per cent, adding some 36 megawatts to the grid from geothermal.
“Kenya is one of the fastest-growing geothermal power markets in the world,” said the UNEP report.
In 2013, the country added 36 MW of capacity at the Olkaria III complex. A further 16 MW was added to Olkaria III in early 2014, bringing the complex to a total of 110 MW.
By early 2014, Kenya had another 280 MW of geothermal power capacity under construction that is expected to be commissioned in the course of the year.
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