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Although
Kenya's energy sources and management
are better than that of their neighbors,
burning wood and charcoal still accounts
for over 70% of domestic energy. Kenya
is dependent on imported oil and petroleum
products to meet its energy requirements.
Petroleum
Kenya
is heavily dependent on imported petroleum
products to meet its energy needs.
The government has made efforts to
reduce the role of petroleum in domestic
energy consumption and has achieved
some success. Despite these efforts,
oil constitutes four fifths of Kenya's
total primary energy consumption.
There has been an increase in the
demand for oil since the country's
transportation and industrial sectors
have expanded in the last decade.
In 1985, 22% of the entire import
budget went to oil purchases, with
petroleum products alone consuming
14% of export revenue.[1] An increased
urban population has also contributed
to greater consumption of energy for
heating water for cooking and other
domestic purposes. This has also stepped
up demand for charcoal, which has
become increasingly scarce and expensive
since recently expanded agriculture
has led to the felling of forests
that once yielded wood for fuel.
Exploration
for a domestic source of oil has been
undertaken by several international
oil companies, but these efforts have
met with disappointment. In January,
1988, the French Oil company, Total,
found oil and gas at a depth of 4,000
meters in the Isiolo district, but
this source has not proved commercially
viable. In mid-1997, Tornado Resources
of Canada signed two agreements for
oil and gas exploration: onshore near
the Ethiopian border and offshore
near the Tanzanian frontier. The Mombasa-based
Kenya Petroleum Refineries (KPR) operates
the country's sole oil refinery, which
handles oil primarily from the United
Arab Emirates. Deregulation of petroleum
product prices and petroleum marketing
and distribution was enacted in October,
1994. Foreign marketing companies,
which together own a 50% interest
in KPR, are no longer required to
import crude oil through the company
for refining.[2]
Electricity
Hydroelectric
power is supplied from five major
stations in the Tana river basin:
Kindaruma (completed in 1987), Gitaru,
Kamburu, Masinga and Kiambere. A geothermal
station operates at Olkaria, in the
Rift Valley, with three 15 MW generators.
Their capacity will be increased when
two 30-MW stations at Olkaria are
up and running. The Turkwel Hydroelectric
station in the Turkana district has
a capacity of 105 MW. In 1993, Kenya
had 604 MW hydroelectric capacity,
156 MW thermal capacity and 45 MW
geothermal capacity, giving a total
of 805 MW. Additional power is drawn
from the Owen Falls dam in Uganda.
The government expects that wider
distribution of electricity and rising
incomes will reduce demand for fuel-wood
and kerosene. But if demand for electricity
grows at a rate of 6.2% per year,
as projected, an expansion of 70%
will be called for to meet demands
in the year 2000.[3] When the Electric
Power Bill was passed into law in
November 1997, Kenya's electrical
History was divided into two separate
legal entities: the Kenya Power Company
(KPC, for generation) and the Kenya
Power and Lighting Company (KPLC,
for distribution and transmission).
Fuel
Wood and Charcoal
These
materials have been the subject of
a special study examining energy demands
between 1985 and the year 2000. The
study predicts that fuel-wood and
charcoal consumption will grow at
3.0 and 4.7 per cent respectively
per annum. If commercial demand for
wood, paper, pulp and construction
are taken into account, then a 7.5%
yearly expansion in the demand for
wood is predicted. If demand increases
at this rate, Kenya's forests are
likely to be depleted unless conservation
measures are quickly undertaken. A
three-part program is being implemented
to meet the fuel-wood demands of the
coming years. The first strategy involves
reforms in agro-forestry, whereby
farmers are encouraged to alternate
traditional crops with trees that
reach maturity quickly and that enrich
the soil with nitrogen. The program
stipulates that about 3 million hectares
be thus developed. The second strategy
involves the organization of efficient
fuel-wood plantations to meet demand
for charcoal. The third strategy seeks
to protect the environment with particular
care given to avoiding soil erosion
and desertification.
Energy
balance, 1997
(millions
tonnes oil equivalent)
OilGasCoalElectricityOtherTotal
Primary
supply
Production0.000.000.000.989.9510.93
Imports2.760.000.090.040.002.89
Exports-0.660.000.000.000.00-0.66
Stock
change0.240.000.000.000.000.24
Total2.340.000.091.029.9513.40
Processing
and
Transformation
Losses
& transfers-0.230.000.00-1.09-2.83-4.15
Net
transformation0.000.000.000.380.000.38
Final
consumption2.110.000.090.317.129.63
Source
The Economist Intelligence Unit, 1998,
Country Profile. Kenya, The Unit:
London,
pg. 21.
[1]
Uwechue, Raph (ed.) 1996. Africa Today,
Third Edition, Africa Books Limited,
pp.868-69.
[2]
Uwechue, Raph (ed.) 1996. Africa Today,
Third Edition, Africa Books Limited,
p. 21.
[3]
Uwechue, Raph (ed.) 1996. Africa Today,
Third Edition, Africa Books Limited,
p.869.
Resources researched
by
Abdelaziz Marhoum, & David A. Samper
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