Kenya’s progress on electricity access

Kenya has seen rapid growth in electricity access, from 20% in 2013 to nearly 85% in 2019. This significant progress rests on the country’s National Electrification Strategy, which provides a roadmap to achieving universal energy access by 2022. The Strategy uses a complementary approach, including both the expansion of grid infrastructure and decentralised solutions such as off-grid solar home systems and mini-grids. Given the cost of expanding the power grid, many communities in Kenya are “under-grid”, i.e. they are close to the grid but are not connected. In these locations, solar home systems are often combined with energy-efficient appliances to match household energy needs and ability to pay. This strategy results in affordable electricity access both for households and for the government, as connecting these homes to the grid would be more expensive. The counties in Northern Kenya with the lowest access rates also have high solar potential, and are the focus of the Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project, a joint venture of the Ministry of Energy, the Kenya Power and Lighting Company and the Rural Electrification Agency.

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