EIB Pledges To Accelerate Renewable Energy Across Africa

Posted by Eric Ojo Business News, Latest Headlines Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – European Investment Bank (EIB), a long-term lending institution of the European Union (EU), owned by its Member States, has reaffirmed it commitment to accelerating renewable energy across Africa.

EIB makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. Its specialized arm known as EIB Global, is dedicated to increasing the impact of international partnerships and development finance.

EIB Global is designed to foster strong, made the pledge while speaking during his visit to the Olkaria Geothermal Power Plant, owned and operated by Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen).

KenGen is the leading electricity generation company in the Eastern Africa region with an installed generation capacity market share of more than 60 percent.

The company’s primary business is to provide safe, reliable, and competitively priced electric energy for the country in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner while creating value for its stakeholders.

Currently, KenGen PLC has an installed generation capacity of 1,904MW, of which over 86% is drawn from green sources namely: Hydro (826MW), Geothermal (799MW), Thermal (253MW), and Wind (25.5MW).

The visit showcased the longstanding partnership between KenGen and EIB and explored potential areas of partnership for future collaboration.

Östros said the EIB has supported visionary geothermal investment by KenGen at Olkaria over the last 41 years.

The visit comes at a time when Kenya is keen on deploying renewable energy as the country makes progress towards achieving a 100 percent transition to clean energy by the year 2030.

During the visit, the EIB Vice President was given a tour of the recently commissioned 86MW Olkaria I Additional Unit 6 Geothermal Power Plant that is currently supplying the nation with additional renewable energy.

The visit also provided an opportunity for both parties to explore potential areas of partnership mainly focusing on green energy projects which will not only help stabilize the electricity supply in Kenya but also help in the global climate action agenda.

The EIB delegation was hosted by KenGen Ag. Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Abraham Serem who welcomed the visit by the EIB Vice President and expressed gratitude for the support that the Bank had provided to KenGen over the years which he said has gone a long way in putting Kenya on the global map as a renewable energy leader.