INCREASING ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY IN RURAL KENYA: THE ROLE OF GREEN MINI

GRIDS
Izael Da Silva Strathmore Energy Research Centre
James Wafula - University of Nairobi
Isaac Kiva Ministry of Energy and Petroleum

Currently, 30% of Kenyan households have electricity. The government plans to increase this to 65 % by 2020
and to 100% by 2030. To this end, the governments has formulated an energy policy and a regulatory
framework (Sessional Paper No.4 of 2004 and the Energy Act of 2006). With development partners support,
Kenya has allocated resources for energy infrastructure development including the exploitation of renewable
resources. Green mini grids will be invaluable to increasing access to electricity in rural Kenya.

The World Bank has selected Kenya to benefit from the Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Program (SREP). SREP
will support Kenya towards achieving a major transformation including a low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission
development pathway. Also, Kenyas Investment Plan identifies the Hybrid (solar and wind) Mini-Grid Systems
as a project which supports pilot programs in rural areas. According to the Investment Plan, the Hybrid Mini-
Grid Systems can increase electricity access and reduce GHG emissions. Kenya receives an average solar
radiation of 4-7 kWh/m2/day, the highest amount of which is in off-grid areas. These areas are largely rural and
have enough space for solar installations.

The provision of quality energy services to all economic sectors in a sustainable and cost effective manner is a
key Government objective. The Government is, therefore, funding distribution network development through
the Rural Electrification Authority (REA), privatizing Government-owned off-grid power stations, and
progressively connect off-grid systems to the national grid. In providing affordable energy to all, the
Government will also support the development and use of modern and efficient emerging technologies.

The Ministry of Energy (MoE) is responsible for formulating and articulating policies which create an enabling
environment for the sectors efficient operation and growth. The MoEs tasks include national energy planning,
human resource training and mobilizing financial resources. The Energy Act of 2006 is one of the MoEs
policies. It established the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) and restructured the Electricity Regulatory
Board into the Energy Regulatory Commission. It also expanded the Energy Regulatory Commission to
encompass the entire energy sector. MoE energy policy also led to the creation of the Geothermal Development
Company (GDC) and Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO).

The MoE created the Rural Electrification Authority to extend electricity to rural areas, manage the rural
electrification fund, mobilize resources for electrification and promoting the development and use of renewable
energy. The REA objective is to provide electricity in areas that are far from the national grid and where
electricity supply projects are not commercially viable. REAs greater vision is for electricity to improve the
social and economic lives of people in those areas.



The Kenya Power & Lighting Company (now known as Kenya Power) is a State Corporation that is currently
the only off-taker in the power market which purchases bulk power from all power generators on the basis of
negotiated Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) for onward transmission, distribution and retail purposes. Kenya
Power owns most of the existing transmission network while KETRACO is developing new transmission
systems.



















Figure 1 Main players in the electricity industry

The countrys power supply consists of the national interconnected system and several mini-grids which serve
areas far from the national grid. The interconnected system has a total installed capacity of 1,695 MW made up
of 812 MW of hydro, 646 MW of thermal, 205.8 MW of geothermal, 5.1 MW of wind, and 26 MW from
cogeneration.
As of now, there are fourteen existing mini-grid diesel power stations. Kenya Power manages twelve of these
while KenGen manages the other two. . The total installed capacity for these mini-grids is 19.16 MW: 18.1MW
thermal, 0.55 MW wind and 0.51 MW solar. , Kenya Power has connected one of its off-grid diesel stations,
Moyale, to the Ethiopian national grid and expects to connect a second one, Mpeketoni, to the national Kenyan
grid. The KenGen-operated stations in Garissa and Lamu are comparatively large, and there are plans to extend
the Kenyan national grid to these areas.

In 2003, the Government embarked on a program that led to the expansion of grid supply to rural areas, the
introduction of renewable energy in various mini-grids and supplying electricity to public institutions. In 2009,
the Government carried out the Rural Electrification Master Plan update study in order to improve the national
rural electrification strategy. The study identified a total of forty-four new sites for off-grid power stations. The


REA is in the process of developing ten of these site and five additional sites which are not included in the
REMP 2009.



Figure 3: Population density and electricity grid coverage

The REAs challenges include managing diesel stations as transportation and on-site fuel storage are
problematic. Additionally, spare parts are not locally available and have to be imported causing major delays
while diesel stations emissions and oil spills contribute to environmental degradation. As a result, oil as a
source of electrification in off-grid areas is not ideal and green energy sources are necessary. To this end, the
Government has undertaken some pilot projects using solar and/or wind. These are the Lodwar, Marsabit,
Mandera, Elwak, Habaswein and Merti stations.

Figure 4: Lodwar hybrid power station Figure 5: Habaswein hybrid power station

The total capital expenditure for retrofitting the existing stations and those under construction is US$ 43 million
while that for developing the forty-four greenfied stations is US$ 173.8 million. Government budgetary support


and development partners financing will meet this expenditure. The World Bank, Agence Franaise de
Dveloppement (AFD), KfW GIZ, DFID, and JICA have already made financial commitments.

AfD committed Euros 30 million to fund retrofitting of existing mini grids including the expansion of existing
hybrids. These funds will provide a sustainable supply of electricity in off-grid regions while enhancing the
contribution of renewable energy sources in the energy mix. Additionally, many smaller units can easily be
installed to cover more rural households and capacity can be scaled up as demand grows.

Figure 6: Energy mix per mini-grid as at March 2013

Over the years the Government has been developing off-grid power stations and handing them over to the
national utility, Kenya Power. The cost of operating these off-grid stations has varied due to fluctuation in fuel
costs. To alleviate this problem, the Government has embarked on a programme to install renewable energy into
the existing stations.



Figure 7 - Locations of the existing mini-grids




Table 1 - Proposed greenfields mini-grids as per the Rural Electrification Master Plan, REMP
NO. STATION COUNTY
PROPOSED
DIESEL
CAPACITY (KW)
PROPOSED
ADDITIONAL PV
SOLAR CAPACITY
(KW)
PROPOSED
ADDITIONAL
WIND CAPACITY
(KW)
1 Nachokui Turkana 374 100 100
2 Turkwel Turkana 216 150 0
3 Kaeris Turkana 390 100 100
4 Liboi Garissa 577 200 0
5 Gari Mandera 295 150 0
6 Dukana Marsabit 330 100 100
7 Bubisa Marsabit 699 150 100
8 Illeret Marsabit 166 150 0
9 Darade Marsabit 185 100 100
10 Furole Marsabit 271 100 100
11 Kibish Turkana 102 100 0
12 Lokamarinyang Turkana 184 100 0
13 Kokuro Turkana 218 150 0
14 Nadapal Turkana 934 300 100
15 Napeitom Turkana 108 100 0
16 Kerio Turkana 108 100 0
17 Oropoi Turkana 288 150 0
18 Todonyang Turkana 79 100 0
19 Loyangalani Marsabit 71 100 100
20 Lowarangak Turkana 81 100 0
21 Kakuma Turkana 200 100 100
22 Haut Samburu 100 100 100
23 Kalokol Turkana 561 200 100

The Kenyan government and international organizations are committed to increasing electricity access in rural
areas. Green mini grids have promising roles to play in this endeavor and are included in the institutional and
regulatory framework for expanding the energy infrastructure. This enabling environment coupled with low
electrification rates in rural areas heralds a promising future for green mini-grids.