Action needed to resolve emerging delays in implementing Kenya’s energy ambitions
By Evans Ongwae
Kenya has developed a raft of policies and strategies to realise its ambitious energy goals – both in the near future and even beyond. The challenge, though, is whether everything in this massive jigsaw puzzle will fall in place at the right time.
Over the last 20 years, the country has crafted an impressive body of laws and policies to expand access to clean and affordable energy. These are guiding the country’s walk to where it wants its energy sector to be.
Delays in implementing some of these policies raises doubts whether set deadlines will be met. A prime example is the development of county energy plans that is taking longer than expected. As per the Energy Act 2019, county governments – all 47 of them – are required to develop three to five-year plans that will feed into the Integrated National Energy Plan (INEP).
The INEP serves as an energy sector inter-governmental document to guide on the short, medium and long-term energy requirements. County governments are expected to map their energy needs, develop energy investment prospectuses, and reduce reliance on traditional biomass as they transition to green energy. These CEPs are supposed to guide the counties on how to invest in renewable energy and accelerate rural electrification.
Counties such as Kitui, Makueni and Meru have completed developing their County Energy Plans. Other counties developing or that are about to complete their plans include Nakuru, Narok, Baringo, Migori, Tana River, Kilifi, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Taita Taveta, Laikipia, Vihiga, Turkana, Siaya, Tharaka Nithi, Kajiado, and Murang’a.
The INEP, co-ordinated by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), guides investment in grid-connected, mini-grid, and standalone systems to ensure reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy access.
This plan is among recent efforts to further reform – and in this case decentralise – initiatives to accelerate access to energy across the country, and more so in rural Kenya.
Dr Hihu Jabali, a don at Mount Kenya University (MKU), notes that policy and regulatory reforms, including energy market liberalisation, independent power producer frameworks, and supportive feed-in tariffs, have accelerated private sector participation and investment in clean energy technologies.
He further notes that institutions such as Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) have benefited from restructuring and improved efficiency, enabling greater integration of geothermal, wind, and solar energy into the national grid. These reforms have enhanced energy access, improved reliability, and reduced dependence on fossil fuels, while also fostering innovation and competition.
On his part, policy consultant Dr John Omiti observes that reforms aimed at promoting and prioritising investment into geothermal, solar, and wind energy while reducing hydropower and fossil fuels.
He notes that the key reforms in the energy sector that targeted changes in the generation, transmission, distribution, and reforming tariffs have borne fruit.
So, history shows that reforms in Kenya’s energy sector have been productive. The question is whether the pace of implementation matches national ambitions and the urgency with which they should be executed.
The development of INEP, and in turn achievement of the Country’s energy objectives, will demand increased collaboration between and among key actors, who include the national government, county governments, institutions of higher learning, development partners, national energy service providers, businesses, non-governmental organisations, community groups, and individual consumers. This is according to the Integrated National Energy Planning Framework.
