HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 405895,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/405895/?format=api",
"text_counter": 167,
"type": "other",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Olkaria, where they have undertaken a lot of development, due to what they have been doing. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we visited Olkaria and were impressed by what we saw there. Kenya has the potential to produce up to 12,000 megawatts of geothermal energy. There is huge potential of geothermal energy in Nakuru County, Baringo County, West Pokot County and Turkana County. Therefore, the Committee recommends that we actually support KenGen and the Geothermal Development Company (GDC), so that we can focus on geothermal energy and develop it. If we explore and explore geothermal energy, Kenya will become the third-largest geothermal energy producer in the world. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is also worth noting that if we focus on reliable, clean and affordable energy, our industries will be competitive in this region. This is because one of the complaints by industries and manufacturers has been complained that power is very costly in this part of the world. Therefore, by encouraging KenGen and GDC to actually explore, develop and mine clean and affordable geothermal energy, we will make Kenya to be competitive because energy is one of the key components that manufacturers and industries rely on. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in the energy sector, we have seen that the Government is focused. But we need to encourage more private investors to come in and take advantage, especially in wind and geothermal energy. But in this specific visit, our Committee learnt that Kenya has the expertise. In fact, in terms of people who are trained in geothermal energy, Kenya is ranked number five in the world. Therefore, I would like to commend the Government of Kenya and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum for having seen early enough that they wanted to develop capacity in geothermal energy production and sponsored many graduates to study in the leading countries, including Iceland, New Zealand and many others. I think that in Africa, we lead in terms of capacity. There are five rigs which are owned by GDC, and KenGen also has a rig. Therefore, we need to encourage these companies and many more, so that we can develop more geothermal energy, which is clean and affordable. If we do that in the next 40 months, because the Government has an objective of developing 5,000 megawatts of electricity, geothermal energy will play a greater part, while looking at coal and maybe wind."
}