Kenya doubles electricity access through renewable energy expansion

Kenya increased its electricity access from 36 percent in 2014 to 77 percent in 2024. The government utilized the country's geographical advantages to build a power grid heavily reliant on renewable sources.

The Kenyan government leveraged geothermal energy from the Olkaria region in the East African Rift to power the nation. Geothermal energy now accounts for 44 percent of the electricity Kenya produces.

When combined with wind, solar, and hydropower, renewable sources provide 91 percent of the country's total power production. This rapid expansion outperformed the broader sub-Saharan Africa region, where electricity access only reached 55 percent during the same decade. To reach rural and low-income residents, the government launched the Last Mile Connectivity Project in 2015. This initiative reduced the connection fee from 35,000 Schilling to 15,000 Schilling and allowed residents to pay the cost in installments.

The African Development Bank and the World Bank provided funding to help the program reach nine million people. Despite these gains, nearly one quarter of the population still lacks access to the grid, leading some residents to move to cities where infrastructure struggles to keep up with rapid urban growth. Reliability and cost remain challenges for many citizens. Kenya Power reported an average of 113 hours of power outages per customer for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.

Additionally, electricity prices in Kenya are significantly higher than in neighboring Uganda and wealthier South Africa. Because the state utility pays some power plant operators for standby capacity and pays debts in US dollars, a weak shilling drives up household costs. Consequently, many families still rely on wood or charcoal for cooking because they cannot afford the extra cost of electric stoves.