Kenya stands to gain more commercial interest and research capabilities in the clean energy sector with the news that it has been selected alongside nine other African countries to lead the world in developing battery storage solutions which will enable the world to tap more effectively the renewable energy mixes. Under the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Kenya and the selected countries under the financing of a giant partnership programme that includes – the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), Africa 50, Agence France Development Authority (AFD), Asian Development Bank (ADB), The Inter-American Development Bank and Abu -Dhabi owned clean energy giant -Masdar. The consortium seeks to get solutions for battery storage because the energy sources from wind and solar are intermittent -meaning it is sporadic, erratic and not stable all the time as the sources of wind and solar fluctuates with time, weather conditions, day and night and other factors that might not make the energy reliable for continuous use. This challenge of the energy being intermittent is one of the reasons that many users have reservations about the clean and renewable energy.
Once the BESS project succeeds in ensuring that batteries can store the clean energy generated for availability at all the times, then solar and wind energies will be reliable and hence users can ensure its maximum use and expand the potential for the renewable energy sources. Kenya has made immense commitments and actualized the commitments into the green a clean energy by for example being home to the largest wind power firm in Africa in the name of the 300 MW Lake Turkana wind power project and also plans to set up more wind powered projects. The project therefore provides an opportunity for Kenyan firms and institutions to higher learning to conduct more detailed research, share research expertise, increase productivity and efficiency and enhance the quality of research which determines the value and ranking of institutions of higher learning and country’s competitive advantage. The project will enable the institutions of higher learning in Kenya and the country at large gain some valuable insights that can be commercialized, for example patents and research contributions for more incomes, employment and job creation opportunities. This is because the green and clean energy is the way to go for all the economies and as agreed in the just concluded Conference of Parties (COP 28) in Dubai. Green and clean energy doesn’t pollute the environment, where for example Nairobi reported 1100 deaths in 2023 and costed the economy around $ 170 million and majority of that pollution is from the unclean energy from fossil fuels. Dr. Giti is an urban management, public – private partnerships (PPP) and environment specialist. mutegigiti@gmail.com , @danielgiti
Dr. Daniel Mutegi Giti 