Energy is essential to economic and social development and to improve the quality of life of the people and is also an important development indicator, which provides vital inputs for economic development. The African continent has abundant energy resources, which still remains untapped. Renewable Energy in form of hydro, geothermal, wind and solar is a major energy resource spread out across Africa. The energy which can be extracted from these resources can solve the most prominent problem that persists in the continent - ‘Shortage of Power’. The potential of these renewable energy sources is so high that it can solve the problem of shortage, as well as provide the power to everyone at affordable rates.
Kenya, the country with immense renewable energy sources in the form of geothermal, wind and solar also faces huge power problems like many of other countries in the African continent. Though there have been initiatives to harness these renewable energy resources in Kenya, but this potential is at large untapped especially for wind and solar. To utilize the energy from this potential requires significant investments and adequate infrastructure in terms of a stable grid network to be able to link these potential resources to demand centers.
One of the key sources of renewable energy in which the Government of Kenya is investing effort and money is wind power. The Government of Kenya has estimated that 500 MW of wind capacity will be installed in Kenya over the coming two to three years and 2 GW of installed wind capacity by 2030. The Government of Kenya is encouraging independent investment in the wind sector and has introduced a feed-in tariff (FiT) similar to those that exist in Europe in order to attract investments in the wind sector.