Kenya Plans to Double Power Generation by 2022 as Economy Grows

(Bloomberg) -- Kenya plans to almost double its power-generation capacity by 2021-22 as East Africa’s largest economy expands, partly driven by manufacturing.

Generation capacity will probably reach 5,221 megawatts from about 2,700 megawatts currently, State Department of Planning Principal Secretary Torome Saitoti said Thursday. Additional capacity will come from mainly renewable energy, Saitoti said at a meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Key Insights:

• Kenya Electricity Generation Co. said in June it plans to more than double its geothermal-generating capacity, partly to support the development of industrial parks at four sites.
• Kenya forecasts its economy will expand at an average 7% until June 2022, according to Saitoti. That will be an increase from an estimated growth of 6.3% in 2018 as investments in manufacturing, housing, farming and healthcare increase.
• The increase in investments to 27.2% of gross domestic product in three years from 24.4% last year will help create as many as 6.5 million jobs in the four flagship sectors as well as services. The number of tourists traveling to Kenya might surpass the government’s 2022 target of 2.5 million, an increase from 2 million last year, according to Saitoti.
• The government had in 2013 set a 40-month target to increase generation capacity by 5,000 megawatts, but scaled back ambitions as projects weren’t implemented as planned.

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• NOTE: June 7, KenGen Plans to Increase Geothermal Power Generation by 590MW
• NOTE: June 1, Kenya on Course to Deliver 500,000 Homes by 2022, President Says
• NOTE: May 28, Kenya Central Bank Cuts 2019 GDP Growth Forecast to 5.9%

To contact the reporter on this story: David Herbling in Nairobi at dherbling@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Helen Nyambura

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