NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 1 – The Electricity Sector Association of Kenya (ESAK) is working towards intensifying the interconnectivity of power in East Africa in a bid to deal with the effects of climate change.
Speaking during an interview with Capital Business, ESAK Chairperson George Aluru said that the association is working towards enhancing power interconnectivity of all the countries in the region to ensure that they are able to balance out their resources when challenges such as drought or floods occur.
“It is important for us to get connected so that we are able to move around these resources; hydro, geothermal, wind among others. depending on which one is cheaper and also which one is available at a certain time,” said Aluru.
Aluru noted that with the regional connection, the East African countries will still be able to access electricity despite climate change and at a good cost.
For instance, in August, Uganda purchased power from Kenya to stabilize its electricity supply after floods hit its 183-megawatt Isimba plant forcing a shutdown.
The ESAK Chairperson noted that with the interconnectivity, the countries will be able to bank on the power mix of each country.
For instance, Uganda and Ethiopia have good hydropower, Tanzania is big on wind and solar power while Kenya has hydropower, geothermal, wind, and also thermal.
“In this, if Ethiopia suffers a drought, they will not have enough electricity as their dams will dry therefore, they can be able to get power from Kenya or Tanzania, and vice versa,” he said.
Closer home, Aluru said the country should invest more in renewable energy to be able to deal with climate change.
“We should also invest in storage and develop more transmission lines linking the country to also build our capacity internally,” he said.
“With climate change, you might find in northern Kenya there is much drought while in other areas there are floods, to ensure sustainability sector players are urged to harness the solar power and store it to transmit to other parts of the country.”
To achieve the complete shift to renewable energy, ESAK has outlined grid enhancement as part of its measure to steer the renewable energy agenda.
To implement this, the association proposes the building of national transmission lines, regional interconnections, and enhancing grid stability to unlock the full utilization of renewable energy resource potential.
Kenya has been ranked top in the use of renewable and clean energy in the Horn of Africa, helping mitigate the effects of climate change.
A report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) dubbed ‘Clean Energy Transitions in the Greater Horn of Africa,’ says Kenya has made massive investments in renewable and clean energy among the eight countries surveyed.
