Energy is central to achieving the goals of sustainable development in any economy. It is a key catalytic ingredient towards Kenya’s attainment of Vision 2030.
“The magnitude and scale of energy needs facing Kenya today are reflected in the wide disparities in the levels of energy consumption in the urban and rural areas,” says the Ministry of Energy’s official newsletter dubbed “Energy”. The country is experiencing an energy deficit of 3,000 megawatts.
The Ministry of Energy says current patterns of energy production, distribution, and utilization do not match the rate of development thus its challenged to consider the exploitation of other available sources of energy.
This is based on the premise to ensure adequate and affordable access to energy for the present and future generations, in an environmentally sound, socially acceptable and economically viable way requires considerable efforts and substantial increase in investments.
Kenya like other non oil producing countries has had to contend with high petroleum prices that exert pressure on the scarce foreign exchange resources available in the country.
“There has been a rising trend in the import bill for petroleum products over the years and the energy policy has been advocating for diversification of energy sources as well as exploitation of indigenous energy sources to save fuel costs,” the newsletter says.
Thus the Ministry of Energy is in an exploitation to develop a bio-ethanol industry in Kenya to increase the use of environmentally friendly fuels in the transport sector in Kenya.
This is also expected to empower Kenyans by offering them the opportunity to develop business enterprises that contribute towards development of the energy sector.
A delegation of Kenyan officials visited Brazil last year to secure modalities underpinning ethanol production in the country. Brazil exports ethanol to 48 markets that earns the country US $ 1.338 billion in foreign exchange.
The delegation included Ministry of Energy’s Senior Deputy of Director Renewable Energy, Mr Eric Akotsi and Assistant Director of Renewable Energy Mrs Esther Wang’ombe. Officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Transport accompanied them, too.
The officers familiarized themselves with tropical technology that allows co-existence of expansion of food and energy production along with environmental protection.
Ethanol as fuel reduces the emission of green house gases, environmental conservation experts say. Apart from harnessing ethanol from food crops, sugarcane is the second most important source of renewable energy that is ethanol and electricity from bagasse.
Propagators of ethanol says that it has low cost of production and its benefits are high. Brazil leads in the export of ethanol in the world although 90 percent of its production is consumed domestically.
However, it should be noted that bio – diesel development is still new and at research stage. Small pilot projects have been established using castor oil and soy beans.
Food insecurity which has been termed by the United Nations as a “silent tsunami” is raising more questions than answers on the use of food crops to generate energy other than being channeled to meet food deficit across the world.
Nevertheless, Brazil covers an area of 8 514 000 kilometer square; with a population of 191.3 million. It has a gross domestic product (GDP) of US $ 1.6 trillion, and per capita income of US 8 000.
The country has abundant natural resources in form of land, water and solar. Its diversified products range ensures food security for the country.
Brazilian products compete favorably in the international arena due to a combination of things among them huge investments in research and Development and private entrepreneurship initiatives.
Mr Akotsi and Mrs Wang’ombe says “the strong partnership between the public sector, research institutions and private sector targeted at industrial growth is something we can learn the Brazilian experience.”
Investment in the energy sector forms the key business opportunity in Kenya and the Ministry of Energy is out to work closely with Brazil in order to share experiences in bio -diesel production through joint partnership projects, the officers say.
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