Renewable Energy Governance in Kenya: Plugging into the Grid 'Plugging into Progress'

Abstract

The dearth of commercially viable renewable energy (RE) operators in Kenya is telling. Despite a rising need for clean and reliable energy, a progressive institutional framework, and a new RE funding scheme, which should result in a genuinely competitive and a self-sustaining investment proposition, the poor results on the ground show that technological innovations, costs and prices, and policies have yet to be fully aligned to achieve full RE potentials. We argue that the resulting negative effects of such poorly administrated RE sector is best understood by considering the practical challenges faced by RE power generators and lost opportunities for ordinary consumers to enhance their socioeconomic well-being which hinges upon access to affordable and reliable energy, and for whom barriers impeding that growth must be removed.