Kenya moves to avert looming power shortage

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/13274

Kenya moves to avert looming power shortage

Posted on Friday 23 November 2007 - 13:34
PANA

Kenya is on the verge of an electricity supply crisis, with just 170 megawatts left untouched this year against peak supply demand of 1,030 MW required to keep the economy running, an official of a state power firm said here Friday.

Kenya plans to construct the country's first wind power plant to inject 5MW of power to the national grid, but the electricity generating firm said the lack of a distribution network could slow the development of non-traditional sources of power.

Eddy Njoroge, the Managing Director of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KENGEN), said although the national peak demand left just enough electricity supply, efforts to top up the power generation were in the pipeline.

"The strategy is to concentrate on geothermal power in terms of electricity supply, we think this is the cheapest strategy. Capital planning is also important for us to meet the demand, that is why we need to plan ahead," Njoroge told a news conference.

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[DCKit]

1. Distributed power. Look it up and stop making excuses Kenya.

Local power for local consumption.

[NNadir]

2. In what alternate universe hasn't Kenya been experiencing power shortages for decades?

Maybe in the land of Coffee Brandy sockpuppets Kenya had enough energy ten years ago, but in the real world, Kenya has always been short of energy.

The per capita power consumption of a Kenyan for all purposes, including transportation, food, water, medical care, entertainment, everything is 176 watts, compared to 11,400 watts for an average American.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/international/iealf/tablee1c.xls

In fact, the per capita income of Kenya is about $250 bucks a year. According to solar buzz, the solar advocacy group, if a Kenya spent their entire income, didn't buy food, didn't pay taxes, didn't have shelter, didn't do anything but pretend to be an American Yuppie, the average Kenyan could afford about 1200 kwh or magical solar energy. This works out to about 133 watts of average continuous power, not counting make believe energy storage systems sold by Amory Lovins at Walmart. This is about 40 watts less than a Kenyan already manages on.

And let's be clear, the anti-nuke religion couldn't care less if a Kenyan eats, has clean water, shelter or medical care.

http://kenya.rcbowen.com/economy/percapita.html

http://www.solarbuzz.com/

In fact, the anti-nuke religion couldn't care less about Africa in general. I couldn't care less about poor people anywhere. It never has. It never will.

The great Kenyan Richard Leaky however, has spoken forcefully for the need for nuclear power in Africa and on the rest of planet.

http://www.videosift.com/video/A-nice-chat-with-Attenborough-Dawkins-Goodall-and-Leakey

Of course, he isn't living on some family compound in Maine with Mom talking how wonderful everything will be in 2050.

There is really nothing more annoying than an anti-nuke sipping Allen's Coffee Brandy and pretending to give a shit about Africa. The conceit that Africa is suddenly experiencing energy shortages is so disconnected with reality, it says everything anyone will ever need to know about what Greenpeace and the like is all about.