By AMOS WAMENYA,
It is estimated that only a third of the total Kenyan population has access to electricity. These figures are higher in the urban areas with notable reduction in the rural off-grid regions. Statistics estimate that only about 6.7 percent of the rural population in Kenya has access to electricity.
According to a World Bank report released in 2017, this places Kenya among the 20 countries with the lowest electrification rate worldwide. Access to electricity makes communities safer, helps small businesses thrive, improves agricultural production and powers essential services such as schools, communication and health.
Delivering policies that simultaneously ensure universal access to affordable energy services and protect the environment is one of the most formidable challenges facing many governments and industry in the world.
For the Kenyan government to provide the much needed electricity for the economy to thrive, there is a need for increased production especially for the rural off-grid populations.
Existing energy supply is heavily and unsustainably dependent upon hydroelectric power, and meeting the energy demands needed for progress means that Kenya must find new ways to provide crucial energy services to its people…Read more>>
