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As President William Samoei Ruto celebrated his first year in State House on 13 September, he has been able to bask in the global leadership opportunity offered by Kenya’s role in crafting an unprecedented African policy approach to the climate crisis ahead of COP28 in Dubai.

The African Development Bank and Korea Eximbank will jointly provide $114m to finance the national electricity grid system and resolve transmission gaps in western Kenya.

All of Kenyan President William Ruto’s personal energy, facility with words, public charm and ruthless cultivation of influential allies was on show at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, with a very hands-on performance as host of the Africa Climate Summit (ACS) on 4-6 September.

China’s Kaishan Group is acquiring one of the three 35MW geothermal developments at Menengai from Symbion Power, while Sosian Menengai Geothermal Power has connected to the Kenya Power grid and Globeleq’s documentation will soon be finalised, a senior official said.

Construction of the long-awaited Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya (ZTK) interconnector is expected to start by year-end, according to comments by Zambian utility Zesco’s managing director Victor Mapani to African Energy.

Industrial conglomerate Devki Group has announced plans to develop a wind farm to supply electricity to its subsidiary National Cement Company’s Sebit cement plant in West Pokot county. The plans also include a heat waste recovery element.

German renewable energy crowdfunder Ecoligo is to build a 6MW solar PV plant in the Awasi area of western Kenya for  Abyssinia Group, one of East Africa’s largest steel manufacturers. It will power an iron and steel factory under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Nairobi-headquartered Abyssinia.

Kenya Tea Development Agency is seeking regulatory approval for its KTDA Power Company subsidiary to reduce the amount of electricity it sells to the national grid, instead supplying more power to its own tea processing factories in the Central Kenya region.

United Kingdom private equity investor Actis has agreed the sale of BTE Renewables to two French businesses, utility Engie and asset manager Meridiam, for $1bn. The deal covers a portfolio of almost 500MW of solar photvoltaic and wind power capacity in South Africa and Kenya.

The Cygnum Capital-managed Facility for Energy Inclusion has advanced a $30m loan to Equator Energy to help the Nairobi-headquartered C&I developer grow its business across Africa.

After years of delay, the Kenyan government’s lifting of a moratorium on independent power projects has allowed companies and financiers to make progress on three 35MW geothermal projects at Menengai, where local Sosian Energy has reached early commissioning, Globeleq is poised to start construction work and Symbion Power expects to follow later in 2023, writes Jon Marks in Nairobi.

The 40MW Kesses solar PV plant has started operating, the project’s funders and Spanish project developer Alten Energías Renovables Group announced on 21 June.  

Kenyan President William Ruto visited his Djiboutian counterpart Ismail Guelleh on 11 June, signing four MoUs. One MoU was for the proposed Hanle Garabbayyis geothermal development.

The German government-supported Clean Energy and Energy Inclusion for Africa (CEI Africa) fund said on 2 June it had awarded $7.3m in grants to three solar PV mini-grid developers for projects in Kenya.

TotalEnergies and Africa Oil Corporation’s 23 May withdrawal from the Tullow-operated South Lokichar development is a blow to Kenya’s faltering attempts to develop its hydrocarbons sector and attests to brighter prospects elsewhere in Africa.