NAIROBI, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has set a bold and ambitious target to have 100 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity of power produced from renewable sources by 2040, the Ministry of Energy said in its blueprint of the sector released Friday in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
The ministry said Kenya will leverage its geographic advantage and clean energy abundance to identify and attract high potential investments to achieve the goal.
"Kenya needs to increase its generation capacity to 100 GW by 2040 to be on par with middle-income economies and to establish itself as a pioneer in new green energy technologies. This will give the country the opportunity to emerge as a global green energy leader," said the ministry in the document, titled Kenya Energy Sector Roadmap 2040.
Kenya currently has 2.4 GW of installed capacity, which represents approximately 2 percent of its potential, especially when it comes to power generation from renewable sources. The ministry targets to achieve 100 percent access to electricity by 2030.
According to the ministry, for Kenya to reach the 100 GW target by 2040, it will need to develop a portfolio of bankable energy projects with a cumulative value of approximately 300 billion U.S. dollars based on the investment cost per GW estimates available.
"Some 188 billion dollars will be for capital expenditures and 44 billion dollars budgeted for transmission and distribution infrastructure, with the remaining 68 billion dollars targeted toward stimulating demand," said the ministry.
The money accounts for only 0.4 percent of the total global investment planned for clean energy investments by 2040 and is comparable to other countries that had similarly scaled their renewable energy generation capacity in the past. ■
