- Kenya’s CIF REI plan will mobilise about $243m from public and private sectors through implementing partners—the AfDB and World Bank.
- Kenya’s REI investment plan will facilitate future private sector investment in innovative storage technologies, such as battery storage and pumped hydropower.
The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) has endorsed a $70 million plan, with an initial allocation of $46.39 million, to advance the integration and utilisation of renewable energy in the Kenyan grid. The move will enable the country’s transition to 100 per cent clean energy by 2030. As part of CIF’s Renewable Energy Integration (REI) investment program, this approval will support Kenya’s ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 32 per cent by 2030 and achieve Net Zero by 2050.
Kenya’s CIF REI plan will support access to clean, adequate, affordable, and reliable electricity in the country. The plan aims to mobilise at least $243 million from the public and private sectors through implementing partners—the African Development Bank and the World Bank Group. Currently, Kenya’s share of renewable energy is almost 90 per cent, including 45 per cent geothermal and 26 per cent hydropower. But the system faces challenges. It struggles to meet peak demand during evening hours, but generation surpluses from geothermal and wind are sometimes not dispatched at night.
Kenya’s REI investment plan will improve dispatch, grid stability, and flexibility to address these issues. It will facilitate future private sector investment in innovative storage technologies, such as battery storage and pumped hydropower. The energy system will also be better prepared for a significant increase in electric mobility and cooking. The plan contributes to expanding variable renewable energy, such as wind and solar, from 19 per cent to 30 per cent by 2030.
CIF has established the pioneering REI program to address the issues linked to deploying clean and intermittent power sources in developing economies. REI can support a mix of supply/demand-side flexibility measures. This will enable improvements in technologies, infrastructure, market design and system operations, and electrification and demand management. Alongside these, it will advance social inclusion and leverage private-sector financing.
Ten countries have been selected to participate in this program, with Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Fiji and Mali’s investment plans endorsed by the CIF Trust Fund Committee in 2023. The Interim CEO of CIF, Luis Tineo, said, “CIF’s concessional funding will be instrumental in getting power to Kenyan consumers where and when they need it. Three of our multilateral development bank partners are collaborating with us through the Renewable Energy Integration investment program to build a powerful coalition to boost Kenya’s ambitions.”