KenGen Looks Toward Nuclear to Power Kenya

KenGen, Kenya’s electricity company, is looking for a partner in the nuclear power sector. The company is seeking to produce nuclear energy to power the country by 2022 and requires a partner to help reach its goals.

“The nuclear space is new and as the biggest power producer (in Kenya) we are considering getting in on the act once the laws and other modalities are in place,” KenGen’s Managing Director Eddy Njoroge told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference.

“It’s a space we would want to be in, we are looking for partners, and hopefully by 2022 we could be producing,” he said.

Currently the country relies on hydropower to generate the majority of its electricity but has started investing in geothermal plants and wind farms to diversify and increase its energy sources and be less reliant on rainfall to fill its dams. But nuclear would alleviate the need to rely on the weather for the majority of its power capacity.

Njoroge said Kenya as a whole expected to produce some 4,200 MW using nuclear by 2022. The East African country sees the power source as a long-term solution to high fuel costs, and also an effective way to cut carbon emissions from the power generating sector.

Kenya has forecast a drought in the latter part of the year and early next year, but Njoroge said he did not expect KenGen’s power output to suffer.

"Our dams are full and unless the long rains due next April are affected, power supply will remain steady," he said.