Kenya Ranks 3rd in Africa in Wind, Solar Power Generation

Kenya is the third country on the African continent with the highest generation of electricity from solar and wind.

The country only trails with 16 percent of renewable energy sources, according to the most recent data from energy think tank Ember, which is followed by Namibia (25 percent) and Morocco (17 percent).

Kenya has been focusing on power generation using hydro (30%) and geothermal (45%) as of 2017 as other means of energy creation have proven unsustainable owing to global warming.

As a result, 90% of Kenya’s electricity in 2022 was generated from renewable sources.

With the development of Africa’s largest wind project, supported by foreign funding, wind power increased to 14% of Kenya’s electricity in 2022 (1.7 TWh), up from just 0.6 percent in 2017 (0.1 TWh).

“The stage is set for wind and solar to achieve a meteoric rise to the top. Clean electricity will reshape the global economy, from transport to industry and beyond,” Ember senior electricity analyst Małgorzata Wiatros-Motyka said.

“A new era of falling fossil emissions means the coal power phasedown will happen, and the end of gas power is now within sight,” Wiatros-Motyka added.

“Change is coming fast. However, it all depends on the actions taken now by governments, businesses, and citizens to put the world on a pathway to clean power by 2040.”

Solar increased by 24 percent year over year and added enough electricity to power all of South Africa, making it the fastest-growing source of electricity for the eighteenth year in a row.

In 2022, wind energy generation went up by 17%, producing enough electricity to supply practically the entire UK.

With hydropower playing a significant role, twenty African countries presently produce more than half of their electricity from renewable sources.

However, only the Middle East receives less electricity from wind and solar sources than Africa as a whole (5 percent). Africa accounted for less than 1% of the increase in worldwide wind and solar generation in 2022.

The huge potential for wind, solar, and other renewable technology is demonstrated by the swift growth observed in several African nations.