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Kenya is fostering the growth of small hydropower plants as part of a broader push to electrify far-flung communities and meet its clean energy goals.
The context: The East African country is already a frontrunner in the transition to low-carbon electricity, with renewables accounting for around 90% of annual generation.
Geothermal is the nation’s biggest power source (47% of the mix as of 2023), though wind and solar combined now make up more than 20% of the total after years of rapid growth, according to Ember data. Large-scale hydro comprises about a quarter of the mix.
However, a large share of the population is still not connected to the power grid, despite steady gains over the past three decades. A quarter (24%) of Kenyans didn’t have access to electricity in 2022, according to the World Bank.
The latest: Off-grid solar has played a major role in expanding energy access in recent years, but mini hydro plants are also helping to fill the gap.
Small hydro plants — those with a capacity of 10MW or less — are increasingly being placed along rivers to power communities and businesses, particularly in regions that are far from the national grid. These “run-of-the-river” facilities produce no emissions and are considered less environmentally harmful than large hydro plants, which require dams or reservoirs.
However, it’s early days yet. For now, just 30MW of small-scale hydro is currently in operation, with 15MW of the total integrated into the national grid. Kenya’s energy department estimates the country’s potential for small, mini, and micro-hydro systems is 3GW — or 100 times the current installed capacity — mostly in the country’s five drainage basins.
Kenya’s feed-in tariffs for small renewable energy generators are helping to stimulate the market for small hydro.
One company, the Kenya Tea Power Company (KTPC), has set up small hydro stations near tea factories. Excess power is sold to the state-owned power distribution company through a power purchase agreement.
Impact: “In the villages where these small hydros are located, people have benefitted immensely,” Ali Adan, a senior environmental scientist at the Technical University of Kenya, tells The Progress Playbook.
“People get connected to this green energy, which improves their lives — they are being protected from indoor air pollution caused by lighting paraffin lamps and stoves,” Adan says. “They can connect to television and mobile phones and partake in opportunities associated with the internet. Electricity in this case is a catalyst for socio-economic transformation for these rural communities.”
Adan says small hydro plants have enabled communities to attract investment, create jobs, and facilitate technology transfer. They’ve also encouraged communities to protect their water and forestry resources.
“In places where small hydros have been operationalised, the people take the responsibility to protect their particular catchment,” Adan says.
Yes, but: While feed-in tariffs are helping, the adoption of small-scale hydro is being held back by high installation costs — averaging $2,500 per kW — inadequate hydrological data, the effects of climate change, and limited local capacity to manufacture small hydro power components, according to the Energy & Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
Nevertheless, Adan says there’s a strong case to be made for the technology’s growth.
“It would be important to diversify energy choices as much as possible so that services are closer to the citizens. Also, having many hydros which are sustainable will also remove the burden on the national grid.”
According to the International Energy Agency, Kenya is on track to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030, placing it well ahead of many of its peers.
