Nairobi, Nov 25 (IANS) Kenya’s electricity demand has expanded to 1,944 megawatts (MW) compared to 1,804 MW attained in February amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the state-owned electricity generator said.
Rebecca Miano, CEO of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) said that demand for electricity dropped between April and June due to containment measures put in place by the government to curb the spread of COVID-19, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.
“The demand for power will keep rising going forward and so we will continue with the implementation of the projects that were in the pipeline,” Miano said.
KenGen currently accounts for 72 per cent of all electricity produced in the country with 80 per cent coming from renewable sources of energy.
Miano said that Kenya is prioritizing use of green energy sources in order to promote environmental sustainability as well as adapt to and mitigate against the effects of climate change.
She said that the east African nation plans to conduct a feasibility study to establish the viability of establishing a waste to power electricity project based on recycling of solid waste generated by the city of Nairobi.
The KenGen senior official observed that Kenya currently produces 865 MW of geothermal power making it a top ten producer of power from the renewable energy source.
The state electricity generator, which is 70 per cent owned by the government also produces about 818 MW of power from hydro electricity sources, Miano said.
She noted that production of power from hydro sources is vulnerable to changes in climate such as extreme drought when water levels at dams affect electricity production.
According to Miano, the government plans to roll out hydrology funds in order to cushion producers of electricity from hydro sources.
–IANS
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