Securing East Africa’s energy future through private sector participation

Last Updated 13 years ago by Kenya Engineer

The 15th Annual East African Power Industry Convention (EAPIC) will be held on the 10th- 11th of this month at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi. The event dubbed, Securing East Africa’s energy future through private sector participation, is the platform for likeminded power professionals to connect and find solutions to the region’s pressing energy challenges.  

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, Hon. Minister Davis Chirchir and Uganda’s Minister of Energy, Hon. Minister Irene Muloni, are among the top level government and industry players who will address and participate at the event.  They will join other regional ministerial dignitaries in a panel discussion about East Africa’s new energy roadmap during the opening session.

It is estimated that more than 500 power professionals will attend the event which will address the various challenges in the region’s power industry; including unstable and unreliable electricity supply which is hindering economic growth, as well as the high demands being put on already aged infrastructure, causing frequent black outs. 

The event invites various exhibitors and sponsors from the fields of power generation, transmission, distribution, metering, clean energy, energy efficiency and project management such as General Electric (GE), which operates as an infrastructure and financial services company worldwide will participate as a diamond sponsor.

“GE is committed to working with public and private sector stakeholders to address the region’s current and future energy challenges. EAPIC offers a platform to engage industry stakeholders on this topic,” said the Company’s president and CEO for Africa, Mr. Jay Ireland.  

GE’s CEO says the company is excited about doing business in Africa because “the East Africa region is experiencing steady economic growth thereby increasing the need for an improved infrastructure and access to world class technological solutions.  These needs can be partially and in some instances fully met by GE’s diverse technologies, services and solutions in key sectors.” 

He continues to state that last year, the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement with Kenya to develop projects in key sectors such as power, rail, healthcare, aviation and training & capacity building to deliver on the country’s Vision 2030 plan. Mr. Mugo Kibati, CEO for Kenya Vision 2030 is set to address the convention on the 11th. 

“These sectors are well positioned to propel the East Africa Region and in particular Kenya to be a top 30 global economy by the year 2030. We are therefore excited to be an integral part of contributing towards supporting the region to attain the projected positive economic growth,” said Mr. Ireland. 

Amongst GE’s portfolio is a ‘waste to energy project’ in Kenya at the Biojule Farm which is using two of GE’s Jenbacher biogas engines to generate 2.8 MW of electricity from vegetable waste.  The project, owned by Tropical Power, marks the first biogas engine project in sub-Saharan Africa for Clarke Energy, GE’s authorized Jenbacher gas engine distributor in the region.

GE is also supplying Safaricom with GE Durathon batteries which will capacitate the Safaricom network to run efficiently during power outages. The battery provides reliable and cost-effective power at reduced fuel costs and is one of the first batteries in the world to be designed specifically for Charge Discharge Cycling (CDC) telecom applications. (Read: Power outages lead telecommunication firm to invest in alternative)