Ruto calls on partners to invest in renewable energy

President William Ruto has welcomed foreign partners and allies to consider bringing technologies and investments necessary to unlock the vast renewable energy resources in Kenya and the African continent for mutual beneficial outcome.

Addressing the Energy Transition dialogue in Berlin, Germany, President Ruto hailed Africa as a continent of abundance in renewable energy and green industrialisation potential which he said has remained untapped. “We welcome Germany to establish Kenya as a key industrial hub for German manufacturers as they transition to a new era,” Ruto said.

He said Kenya is leading the way and is gearing up to become the continent’s green energy hub. “Our national grid is small at just three gigawatt yet 92 percent of the power comes from zero carbon source like geothermal, hydro, wind and solar… we aspire to reach 100 per cent renewable energy in 2030 and to take a quantum leap to 100 gigawatt grid size and 100 per cent renewable by 2040,” stated the President.

The above he said is possible based on the country’s untapped potential of nearly 78 gigawatts of solar energy, 57 gigawatts  of wind, at least 10 gigawatts of geothermal and six gigawatts of hydro.

“But the small grid size and relatively high energy cost have made it hard to attract energy intensive industry to Kenya in the past, yet energy intensive anchored demand is exactly what needed to make investment in addition to renewable energy generation capacity,” President Ruto said: “Renewable energy generation capacity and industrial deployment need to develop concurrently to overcome the current stalemate where each is waiting for the other to happen.”

With the right level of investment, he said Africa can provide energy access for all by 2030 while reducing the emissions related to energy generation by 80 per cent.

He however challenged Africa to position itself to serve European demand for product and services.