Kenya ranked among top ten countries in renewable energy investments

Kenya has been ranked among the top ten countries in the world that have made significant investments in renewable energy.

According to a report released by Bloomberg New Energy Finance on Monday, Kenya was ranked sixth in a global list of key emerging markets which together attracted Sh12.9 trillion ($126 billion) worth of investments in clean energy last year.

This represented a growth of 39 per cent compared to the previous year.

Data from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) shows that geothermal power consumption rose to a record high of 402.1 million units in October accounting for nearly half of the country’s total consumption.

SOUTH AFRICA AND UGANDA IN TOP TEN

Other African countries named in the top ten were South Africa and Uganda which were ranked fourth and ninth respectively.

The increased investments in these countries were attributed to Africa’s position globally as a significant investment destination.

According to the report, the progress in 2014 was achieved despite a number of countries such as Brazil, South Africa and China recording slow economic growth rates.

Average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth across the nations slipped to 5.7 per cent in 2014 from 6.4 per cent in 2013.

The survey considered investments in wind and solar energy among other renewable power generation projects.

UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

The report comes ahead of a United Nations Climate Change Conference that is set to take place in Paris, France later this month.

The conference will discuss measures on how wealthier countries should assist less developed economies in addressing climate change.

In 2014, financial institutions accounted for Sh8.1 trillion ($79 billion) of the total renewable energy investments compared to Sh5.4 trillion ($53 billion) in 2013.

The Bloomberg New Energy Finance report was commissioned by the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, UK’s Department for International Development and the US Agency’s Power Africa Initiative.

Kenya and South Africa were also among the countries that made the most investment in renewable energy globally last year, according to a report released by Germany’s Frankfurt School, a United Nations Environment Programme centre for climate and sustainable energy finance in May.