KENYA, IRENA, AND CLEAN ENERGY INITIATIVES

UNCLAS NAIROBI 001268 STATE PLEASE PASS USTR WILLIAM JACKSON AND PATRICK DEAN COLEMAN STATE FOR EEB/ESC DANIELLE MONOSSON, OES/EGC GRIFF THOMPSON, IO/EDA REBECCA WEBBER, AND OES/SAT DR. FERNANDO ECHAVARRIA STATE ALSO FOR AF/E AND AF/EPS STATE PASS USAID/EA COMMERCE FOR BECKY ERKUL AND KEVIN BOYD LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHERS ADDIS ABABA FOR REO KIRSTEN BAUMAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG KGHG SENV ECON ETRD EFIN KE SUBJECT: KENYA, IRENA, AND CLEAN ENERGY INITIATIVES REFS: STATE 61286 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. Per reftels, post informed Kenyan Ministry of Energy Senior Deputy Secretary for Administration Paul Ngatia on June 24 that the United States welcomes the formation of the International Renewal Energy Agency (IRENA) and is considering signing the IRENA Statute at the June 28-30 consultative meeting in Cairo. We urged the Kenyans to join us in supporting the UAE's bid to host IRENA's HQs. ¶2. Ngatia responded that Kenya will also be an enthusiastic IRENA proponent and intends to ratify the organization's statute. He said that a UAE delegation had recently visited Kenya and during its meeting with Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula lobbied for Kenyan support. According to Ngatia, Kenya will join with the United States in promoting Abu Dhabi as the host city for IRENA's HQs. ¶3. Minister of Energy Kiraitu Murungi had originally planned to lead the Kenyan delegation, but neither he nor Permanent Secretary Patrick Nyoike will attend the Cairo meeting. Instead, Assistant Minister and Member of Parliament Mohamed Maalim Mahamud, who is the former Ministry of Roads' permanent secretary and a structural engineer, will lead the Kenyan delegation. -------------- Kenyan Clean Energy Initiatives -------------- ¶4. Kenya is committed to generating power from clean sources in large part to wean the country off imported fossil fuels (Note: Kenya does not produce any oil. It sources petroleum principally from the UAE.) In early June Prime Minister Raila Odinga appointed a national task force to explore green energy alternatives. In addition to the committee's several ministers and permanent secretaries, the task force includes the chairmen of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance and the Kenya Association of Large Power Producers. In July, President Mwai Kibaki is expected to launch a four-year biodiesel strategy. These initiatives follow a mid-May 2009 decision by the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) to loan a private group, the Lake Turkana Wind Power consortium, KSh31.4 billion ($410 million) to construct a 300MW wind farm near Lake Turkana by July 2012. The wind farm will consist of 353 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 850KW. ¶5. During the June 11 reading of the government's FY09 budget, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta announced that KSh5.7 billion ($73 million) would be allocated to the state-owned "Geothermal Development Company," charged with prospecting for hot rocks. In addition, Kenyatta waived all import duties on geothermal generation equipment as an inducement to private companies to partner with the GDC. He also revealed that Ksh500 million ($6.4 million) would be earmarked for the establishment of a "green energy facility," KSh400 million ($5.12 million) for solar power generation in arid and semi-arid sections of the country, and another KSh200 million ($2.6 million) to equip schools in Northeastern Province with solar panels. Kenyatta told lawmakers that "to enhance the supply of environmentally friendly and affordable energy to our economy, the focus of our investments will be on development of renewal energy such as geothermal." Ranneberger