Kenya ranked seventh most improved globally in energy sector

he World Bank has ranked Kenya the seventh most improved country in the world in the energy sector and the second in Africa over the past eight years.

Switzerland takes the top spot as having made the biggest gains since 2010, while Vietnam and United Arab Emirates come in second and third respectively. This is according to a recently released World Bank report dubbed Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE) which ranks Rwanda the eleventh most improved, making Kigali the third best in Africa, behind Egypt and Kenya.

The report assesses countries’ policies and regulatory support for each of the three pillars of sustainable energy – access to modern energy, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Egypt recorded the most impressive improvement in the continent, having been ranked at position five globally.

“Countries such as Bangladesh, Ghana, India, and Kenya have concentrated their efforts on policy frameworks for electricity access, even as they begin to catch-up on renewable energy and energy efficiency,” the World Bank says in the study.

“Kenya, in particular, stands out for its accelerated progress in electrification underpinned by rapid adoption of supporting policy measures, following the paradigm shift contained in the country’s National Electrification Program.”

The study assesses countries based on strength of their regulations around electricity access, clean cooking, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Kenya has in recent years caught the attention of the world having emerged as the ninth largest producer of geothermal energy and home to the largest wind farm in Africa – the 310 MW Lake Turkana wind power plant.

This has made it a case study of sorts with its power mix in use being more than 80 per cent green.

Last October, South Africa, the most industrialised economy in Africa, dispatched a team of senior energy sector officials for a benchmarking expedition in Kenya.

The delegation sought to study Kenya’s power mix and roadmap plan in relation to demand and supply, along with power plants’ efficiency and the impact on power tariffs.

The World Bank awarded Kenya in its RISE report 2018 an overall score of 64 per cent, having managed 82 per cent in the energy access category, 48 per cent for energy access and 63 per cent in renewable energy.

Though Kenya is the most improved country since 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa, the country is ranked third best performer in the continent based on its last year’s score, with South Africa emerging the best, followed by Ghana.

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The World Bank categorises scores based on a “traffic light” system – green for the highest scores (67 – 100), indicating a relatively mature policy and regulatory environment while yellow is for the middle range (34 – 66), indicating that the country has begun to make serious efforts to develop a policy and regulatory framework. Red is for the lowest scores (0 – 33), indicating that policy and regulation adoption remains at a very early stage.

Kenya’s 64 per cent score is in the middle range, represented by yellow.

Source: Energy Siren