Kenya\u2019s electricity generation has been one percentage point\nshy of hitting the 100 percent green mix holy grail at weekends, boosted by\ngood hydrology at dams and an uptick in geothermal, wind and solar generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Energy cabinet secretary Charles Keter said that the share of\ndiesel-fired electricity in the national grid from smoke-spewing thermal plants\nis bouncing between 2-5 percent, with the share slipping below one percent at\nweekends when activity is low. The dramatic green shift points to Kenya\u2019s shrinking\ncarbon footprint, boding well for the environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing between two and five percent thermal on\nnormal days and less than one percent during weekends,\u201d said Keter on the\nsidelines of the sixth Global Off-Grid Solar Forum 2020 in Nairobi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re only paying thermal IPPs (independent power producers)\ncapacity charges as we\u2019re obligated to under the power purchase agreements (PPAs)\nthey have with Kenya Power,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the current PPA regime, there\u2019s a take-or-pay clause\nthat makes it mandatory for Kenya\nPower to buy power from independent investors, failure to which it pays them\ncompensation for electricity not evacuated, also known as deemed energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The compensation payout, which is fixed, is\ncalled capacity charge and is payable through customer power bills to cover\ndevelopers\u2019 fixed expenses on their plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It means that much as Kenya has sharply cut use of thermal power\nin favour of renewable sources, investors in thermal plants are still being\npaid in form of capacity charges. But their revenues from energy charge, which\nis tied to the amount of power generated, have plummeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though Kenya\u2019s generation mix is above 90 percent green, the\nshare of renewables in its total installed capacity stands at 70 percent. It\nmeans thermal plants are for the most part sitting idle as green sources led by\ngeothermal and hydros do the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing wind 13 percent of the generation\nmix, solar two percent while the bulk is geothermal and hydropower,\u201d said\nKeter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The coming on-stream of the 310MW Lake Turkana Wind Park in\nSeptember 2018 alongside the 55MW Garissa solar farm has deeply cut Kenya\u2019s use\nof thermal power which is not only expensive but dirty to the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The East African economy, which is positioning itself as the\nregional powerhouse, has equally been bullish with geothermal development. It\u2019s\ncurrently ranked the eighth largest geothermal producer in the world and the\nfirst in Africa with an installed capacity of about 770MW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several more steam plants are in the pipeline. For instance, the\nother half of the 165.4MW Olkaria 5 plant is set to be commissioned within a\nmonth, after its first half (82.7MW) went live in July 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKenGen is running tests on the remaining half. President\nKenyatta will be commissioning it anytime from now, hopefully by end month,\u201d\nsaid Keter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another 83MW is coming through next year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n