Investment is the father and mother of business. Without it, it’s impossible to birth any business venture. It is therefore critical for investments into renewable energy to increase drastically if this clean energy is to take root and power the country forward.
When President Kenyatta launched construction of the Lake Turkana Wind Farm last week, he urged other investors to follow the footsteps of the mammoth wind farm’s financiers who invested nearly Sh70 billion into the project. This staggering amount is the largest single private investment in Kenya’s history and it shines a new light not just on the potential of renewable energy, but also on the investment needed to make it happen.
Philip Fisher, the renowned American investor, once said, “The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.”
Indeed, it is critical to know the immeasurable value of renewable energy to make knowledgeable investment decisions.
A UN report on renewable energy investments notes that global investment into renewable power and fuels in 2014 was nearly 17 per cent higher than in 2013. This is good news because it shows investors are seeing the value of renewable energy.
Acknowledging this value, the Kenya government commissioned a wind energy research. According to the research as contained in the Wind Sector Prospectus, 73 per cent of the total area of the country experiences annual mean wind-speeds more than 6 m/s at 100 m above ground. This simply means that the country is ripe for wind energy.
Led by the AfDB Bank, the team of investors that is pumping Sh70 billion into the Lake Turkana Wind Farm know the immense value of Kenya’s wind resources. So does the US Company General Electric which is constructing a 100MW wind farm in Kajiado’s Kipeto area. Investments into this wind farm are estimated to be almost Sh30 billion. Other investors that are investing into large scale wind farms are Electrawinds from Belgium and Aeolus Kenya.
All the billions currently being poured into wind energy prove that renewable energy is no longer a preserve of environmentalists but a viable investment opportunity.
With a current installed capacity of less than 3,000MW, we have a long way to go to reach our goal of 19,200MW by 2030. This means there is a massive opportunity for private sector players and county governments to invest in green energy through wind or solar. Small wind farms that produce single digit megawatts cost millions to construct but they can also fetch millions more thanks to a guaranteed market through the feed-in-tariff policy. More Kenyans should therefore pool resources through investment clubs and invest in small wind farms.
Last year, Kenya attracted an investment of about Sh111 billion in renewable energy. It is time for ordinary Kenyans to partake in these billions-worth investments.
Think green, act green!
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