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{
"id": 91447,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/91447/?format=api",
"text_counter": 88,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Murungi",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Energy",
"speaker": {
"id": 93,
"legal_name": "Kiraitu Murungi",
"slug": "kiraitu-murungi"
},
"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move that the Speaker do now leave the Chair. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Energy is seeking approval of a gross expenditure of Kshs36,356,180,590 this Financial Year, 2010/2011, to meet the Development Expenditure of Kshs34,072,869,390 and Recurrent Expenditure of Kshs2,283,311,200. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as is well known, the mandate of my Ministry is to ensure adequate supply of clean and affordable energy services to Kenyans while at the same time, protecting the environment. There cannot be any development without adequate and affordable energy. Kenya’s ambitions of industrialization as contained in the Vision 2030 cannot be realized unless we tremendously accelerate and expand our access to modern energy services. Vision 2030 is based on a projected growth rate of, at least, 10 per cent per annum. With this projected high growth rate, the demand for electricity is expected to rise to over 10,000 megawatts by the year 2030. My Ministry intends to increase the installed capacity from the current 1,325 megawatts to 3,000 megawatts by the year 2013; that is, within the next three years. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also have our ambitious projects of increasing connectivity to cover an additional one million new customers to be connected to electricity during the term of this current Parliament; that is, 2008 – 2012. My Ministry is implementing various policies and projects as set out in Sessional Paper No.4 on Energy and the Energy Act in the electricity subsector, petroleum subsector and renewable energy to meet energy development needs for this country now and in the future. As we implement this mandate, my Ministry continues to face major challenges and these include; chronic power shortages due to inadequate generation capacity, low quality power, frequent outages and blackouts due to inadequate aged and dilapidated electricity transmission and its distribution infrastructure, overreliance on hydropower which has now become unreliable due to climate change factors and unpredictable circles of prolonged droughts, high energy costs due to importation of very expensive high speed diesel powered emergency power plants and world cut upward swings in international petroleum oil prices. We also face our traditional chronic challenge of under-investment in this sector leading to unexploited, underdeveloped and underutilized renewable energy resources such as wind and geothermal. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, to address these challenges, my Ministry continues to implement the following measures: 1. Installation of new and more efficient cost-effective power plants using renewable energy resources. 2. Construction of new high voltage transmission lines. 3. Expansion and upgrading of power distribution network. 4. Installation of new and expansion of existing isolated power stations in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) districts. 5. Installation of solar and mini-wind power generation plants in existing and new isolated power stations in those districts. 6. Installation of solar and where feasible, micro wind turbines at public facilities in ASALs districts. 7. Expansion of our oil and gas exploration activities in all our sedimentary basins. 8. Promotion of wood fuel development activities through our energy centres in different parts of this country. 9. Promotion of commercial production of bio-fuel crops which are not in competition with food crops. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, to put this country on a more sustainable energy future, my Ministry has decided to take a very bold step. This year, we are setting up a nuclear electricity project at a cost of Kshs300 million. Through this project, we shall undertake a feasibility study for nuclear electricity generation, build our nuclear scientific and technical capacity and prepare a roadmap for construction of nuclear electric power plants for this country. Time has come for us to overcome our unfounded fears of nuclear energy. That is why we have decided to take this bold step. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, my Ministry during the last financial year, performed quite well and has registered several key achievements. Among them, we have retired 230 megawatts of the 290 megawatts of emergency power and, therefore, considerably reducing the price of electricity in this country. We have also constructed 130 megawatts of new permanent capacity, including 90 megawatts of heavy fuel or refined power plants, 35 megawatts of geothermal and five megawatts of wind which have been installed and commissioned through KenGen and Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, my Ministry has also decided to expand our geothermal power generation. We have signed a power purchase agreement for development of an additional 52 megawatts of geothermal power through an IPP called Power Four to raise the capacity from 48 megawatts to 100 megawatts and we expect it to be completed by October, 2010 after which, construction of this power plant is going to start. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on wind, we are setting up the largest wind power plant in Africa. I think you have read in the Press about the 300 megawatts Turkana Wind Pump Projects in Laisamis District. Negotiations between the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and the IPP developer of this project have been concluded and the construction of the project is expected to commence in November, 2010. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, construction of transmission lines has also begun in earnest. During the last financial year, we commissioned two 132 KV lines, namely; the 45 kilometre 132 KV power transmission line from Rabai to Ngalu and the 53 kilometre 132 KV line from Chemosit to Kisii. This year, we are going to commission the Kamburu-Meru 132 KV transmission line sometimes in September. We are about to conclude two contracts for the construction of a Kshs7.8 billion 450 kilometers 400 KV line from Mombasa to Nairobi and another 34 kilometers 132 KV line from Mumias to Rang’ala in western Kenya."
}