Renewable news from East Africa.

 

Chinese firms eye Kenya's renewable energy sector amid potential for growth.

Chinese companies are keen to expand their footprint in Kenya's renewable energy sector whose growth has accelerated against a backdrop of friendly policy and regulatory environment, senior executives said on Thursday.

The executives, who spoke to Xinhua at the eighth Africa oil and gas exhibition taking place in Nairobi, said they were keen to venture into Kenya's clean energy solutions market.

Joanne Tan, overseas sales director of Guolong Electric Company Limited, said that Kenya presents new opportunities for manufacturers of solar technologies whose uptake in rural areas has spiked.

"We consider Kenya a strategic market for our solar products as the government promotes use of clean energy in homes and industries," said Tan, adding that her company is sourcing for a local partner to expand presence in Kenya and neighboring countries.

 

www.globaltimes.cn/content/1159295.shtml

 

Kenya moves closer to goal of 100% renewable energy generation by 2030

Kenya has boosted its power generation capacity and is one giant step closer to reaching its goal of 100 percent renewable energy generation by 2030 after it launched the continent’s largest wind farm.

Set to contribute 310 MW to the national grid, the $680-million privately-funded Lake Turkana Wind Power project will increase the country’s power supply by about 13%, reducing the country’s reliance on thermal generated electricity, the Africa Oil and Power Corporation said in a press release. With an energy mix that consists of 85% renewable energy, Kenya is considered one of the world’s leading countries in the development and implementation of clean energy – particularly in the geothermal sector.

https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/kenya-moves-closer-to-goal-of-100-renewable-energy-generation-by-2030-2019-07-23

 

 

Kenya, Botswana seek to partner in green energy exploration

Kenya is keen to partner with Botswana in exploration and production of more green energy to address the rising demand for electricity, an energy official said on Wednesday

Rebecca Miano, chief executive officer at the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), said that the power producer was ready and keen to offer Botswana expertise in various sectors of electricity production. 

 "So far Kengen has 310 drilled wells producing 690MW from geothermal and this will increase by an extra 165MW in the next couple of weeks," Miano said in Naivasha, about 90 km northwest of Nairobi during a tour of geothermal projects by visiting Botswana President Eric Mokgweetsi Masisi

kenGen plans to expand into oil and mining in the near future, Miano said, noting that the company had considerable wealth of experience and expertise in renewable energy sources such as hydro, wind and geothermal power. 

 She said the visit by the Botswana president coincided with the firm's long-term strategy which included the development of regional partnerships. She said Kenya is Africa's number one geothermal energy producer and is among the top 10 in the world. 

Currently this potential is being harnessed in Olkaria, Menengai and Eburru fields. Currently, 70 percent of Kenya's installed electricity is derived from renewable sources, which is more than three times the global average. 

Speaking during the visit, President Masisi praised KenGen for the contribution it had made towards securing Kenya's energy.

 

https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/international/kenya-botswana-seek-to-partner-in-green-energy-exploration-29820166

 

Uganda develops NAP for the agricultural sector

18 June 2019, Entebbe, Uganda - With the launch of Uganda’s National Adaptation Plan for the Agriculture Sector in November 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) took one step further by sharing the lessons learnt with the wider NAP community. Climate change and natural resource focal points from the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE), National Planning Authority, and the Parliamentary Committee on Climate Change – as well as from civil society, academia, and development institutions—were invited to close the NAP-Ag programme in Uganda with a three-day workshop to discuss how lessons learnt and challenges faced from formulating the country’s first NAP could be applied in other similar processes.

The NAP for Agriculture was supported by the Integrating Agriculture in National Adaptation Plans Programme (NAP-Ag) and developed by MAAIF in conjunction with the Climate Change Department of the MWE, and FAO and UNDP. The NAP has 21 action areas with adaptation options for crop production, livestock, fisheries, climate information, forestry, land and resources management, knowledge sharing, and early warning and disaster preparedness.

The discussion on lessons learned, facilitated by representatives of the NAP-Ag programme and the Global Water Partnership, began by addressing the importance of the multi-stakeholder consultative process. In the lively discussion that followed, it was found that a stakeholder mapping was useful for identifying all the actors who were involved in various roles related to the NAP process, from laying the groundwork, to appraisal of options, to implementation and monitoring of outcomes. Engaging stakeholders also builds ownership and secures political will not just for the formulation stage but for effective policies and implementation of activities.

Participants also highlighted that while the urgency of adaptation can give politicians the chance to set targets and ambitions, the real challenges remain engaging farmers and local-level stakeholders (including the private sector) on implementation. They emphasized the need to tailor actions to farmers and producer groups in order to take adaptation plans and strategies beyond meeting rooms and increase their relevance and applicability at the community level. For example, recognizing that men and women play different roles at the household and community level, efforts were made to develop a gender-responsive NAP, with recommendations for how to consider the different ways in which gender drives adoption of adaptation practices.

https://reliefweb.int/report/uganda/uganda-develops-nap-agricultural-sector

 

Rwanda Prepares the Foundations for Climate-resilient Cities

 

Rwanda, along with its development partners, hopes to soon implement the first stage of the dynamic plan that will kick off in Nyagatare, a district that borders Uganda in the northeast. On Thursday, Jul. 11, environmentalists, private sector stakeholders and government officials convened for a workshop in Kigali to discuss the integration of green growth in Rwanda’s secondary cities.

While large cities are often known for waste, pollution and bad urban planning, Nyagatare will be a far cry from this. Nyagatare will be a green city not only because of the lush, hilly landscape in which it sits, but because the city itself will be built along the lines of a green economy. It will be net zero carbon (by 2050), resource and waste efficient and have a green economy, which aims to offer high quality employment to its residents.

Also key is improved water efficiency—which includes installing water efficient plumbing fixtures, rainwater harvesting systems, wastewater treatment in buildings, and the reuse of treated wastewater for flushing and other secondary applications etc.—green public spaces, green transport modes and buildings constructed from eco-friendly products.

Nyagatare will be the first of six districts to be developed under the “Readiness and preparatory support to implement Green City Development Projects in Rwanda’s Secondary Cities”, which operationalises the national roadmap and which is being implemented by the government, and the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA) in partnership with GGGI.

Τhe establishment of the secondary cities is a key part of Rwanda’s priority to tackling climate change. Rwanda was awarded 600,000 dollars by Green Climate Fund (GCF) for the project, which will not only protect the environment but will consolidate the land use in the six districts, according to Jean Pierre Munyeshyaka, the senior associate for Green Urbanisation at GGGI Rwanda.

“The chosen cities were part of districts that showed signs of development but they were not ready for green growth. That is why we did this project and submitted this project to GCF to help them build conscious-driven green development,” Munyeshyaka told IPS.

https://www.africa.com/rwanda-prepares-the-foundations-for-climate-resilient-cities/

 

 

 

30 July 2019