8232016 Powering Africa Observations from Kenya

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Powering Africa Observations from KenyaJuly 16 2013 by Catherine Wolfram mdash 4 Comments

0

During his trip to Africa at the end of June President Obama announced the PowerAfrica initiative The press release highlighted several goals including addinggeneration capacity in the six target countries which include Kenya and increasing thenumber of households and businesses with access to electricity by at least 20 million

I was recently in Kenya meeting with potential partners for a research project that willmeasure rural householdsrsquo demand for grid connections as well as the social and economicbene뒇ௗts of bringing people electricity (The project is joint with Professors Ted Miguel andEric Brewer) I gained several insights on the opportunities for growth in the local powersector as well as the challenges to bringing power to more Kenyans

Let me start with a couple facts The total electric generating capacity in Kenya is about 1700MW By comparison the generating capacity in California where population is 40 millioncompared to Kenyarsquos 45 million is 70000 MW Kenya has plans to add substantial capacity inthe near future including several large geothermal projects

On the distribution side the Rural Electri뒇ௗcation Authority in Kenya has made tremendousstrides over the past six years building out the low-voltage distribution network Nationwidemore than three-quarters of the Kenyan people now live within 12 km of the grid We visiteda regional oᢹ㾣ce for the agency and saw rows and rows of transformers waiting to beinstalled so this share will likely grow even higher in the future

New transformers awaiting installation

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8232016 Powering Africa Observations from Kenya

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Kenya Power Company which operates the distribution system nationwide will connect ahousehold to the grid as long as itrsquos within 600 meters of a transformer so many householdsare within striking distance Herersquos the catch though The household has to pay about $400to KPC for the connection and there is talk that the company plans to increase theconnection charge to almost $900 this summer In a country where the per capita income isaround $800 most households are priced out of a connection

As a result roughly 20 percent of the population actually has electricity in their homes Morethan half of the people in the country are living under the grid without access to it

Many households in Kenya are near the grid but not yet connected

I met with a grandfatherly gentleman Irsquoll call Mr X in Kisumu rural close to Lake Victoria Hishouse on a steep hill overlooking a picturesque valley is about 100 meters downhill from asecondary school that began receiving electricity 3 years ago He quietly answered questionsabout his living situation and smiled patiently at my attempts to thank him in Swahili (ldquoasantesanardquo)

Mr X became animated when the conversation turned to ldquostimardquo or electricity He wasindignant that the nearby school had electricity but he did not When probed he told us thatthe only reason he did not have power was the large connection charge ndash he could pay forthe wiring in his home and a䫩근ord the monthly payments

Without electricity Mr X spends about $7 per week buying kerosene that he uses to cookand power a large pressured kerosene lamp that lights his whole house Plus to buykerosene each week he must pay about $125 for a motor scooter ride to the nearest villageabout 5 km away

When probed about what he would most like to do if he got electricity he mentionedcooking and lighting his home so itrsquos likely that his kerosene costs would decline signi뒇ௗcantlywith a connection He also wanted to iron his clothes and operate a welder the latter ofwhich could potentially bring him more income

Access to electricity has the potential to transform many lives ndash creating income-generatingopportunities allowing children to study later at night and replacing expensive time-consuming and polluting alternatives such as kerosene As energy economists we havemany opportunities to learn about the bene뒇ௗts of electricity as well as the best business andpolicy models to use to increase access Programs like Power Africa can be hugely impactfulso we need to make sure we do them right

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8232016 Powering Africa Observations from Kenya

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Catherine Wolfram

Filed Under Electricity Electricity Grid Energy and Economy Energy Security Tech Tagged Withenergy poverty grid reliability kenya

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I travelled in Kenya and Tanzania recently Tanzania has hydro powergeneration from Mount Kilamanjaro but most places have no electric poweressential to development I did a few posts from there

httpswwwfacebookcomThoriumEnergyCheaperThanCoalposts446232105425506

httpswwwfacebookcomThoriumEnergyCheaperThanCoalposts418649291523899

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8232016 Powering Africa Observations from Kenya

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Member

July 18 2013 1510Paul O

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July 18 2013 1511Paul O

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How long will Kenyans have to wait before they will even have the opportunityof considering a commercial grade thorium reactor

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pls delete

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What Kenya has to do is to extend credit to this man and charge low to nopro뒇ௗt 츜㵁at rates I would strongly advocate CSP with Molten Salts for Kenya

If I could o䫩근er a suggestion to President Obama and the Power Africa InitiativeMy suggestion is CSP CSP CSP This makes so much sense itrsquos not even worthasking the question

In The Long term Thorium for the World abolutely But for now Kenya shouldlook at CSP with molten salts CSP is compatible with Thorium

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