Pushing for a legislation

Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board (KNEB) is planning to push in for legislation in the parliament that would see establishment of an independent regulator by the end of this year.

These were words that had had been aforementioned  by the board’s executive chairmen & CEO, Hon. Ochilo Ayacko when the Parliamentary delegation previously visited South Korea sponsored by KNEB on Nuclear developments in the Asian country.

The regulating body that is set to be established through parliamentary legislation is set to be independent from promoters and users of to be nuclear energy.

This is will be one of the major milestones that the board will be undertaking towards establishing a nuclear power plant between 2017 and 2022 in the realization of vision 2030. The plant is supposed to produce at least 1000 MW of electricity if it is established.

According to the blue prints economic strategy, the Country will require a total amount of 17,000 MW of electricity. Currently, the country produces only a total of 1,700 MW of electricity since independence. This is only a tenth of what the country will require to realize its vision 2030 energy requirements.

 The remaining gap is supposedly to be filled by geothermal energy which will be able to produce a range of 7000 MW to 10,000 MW of electricity. This means that there will still be deficit of energy requirement since energy that is got from diesel is not sufficient enough and also it pollutes the environment so much. Moreover, the clean renewable energy got from wind produces only 5.45 MW of electricity making it very unreliable for economic dependency and so is the solar energy.

So as to cover the deficit the country requires nuclear energy to fill in this gap. With the current progress there is hope that the country is moving towards the right path of establishing a nuclear power plant.

If KNEB meets its goal then the country will have more foreign investments that will see faster realization of vision 2030.

Many foreign investors have decried experienced power shortages, frequent black outs and constant low voltage of electricity that has made them to lose a lot of money as a result of mishaps and also shunning away potential investors.

However, with these major milestones being taken by the board it seems that there is hope to the common people and investors at large as power outrages will soon be a thing of the past.

Michael Ogutu

Publicity & Advocacy