National Energy Policy - Final Draft - 14 Nov 2013

Policies and StrategiesGeothermal Energyblocks with incentives and sanctions in order to accelerate geothermaldevelopment.5. Promote and encourage direct uses of geothermal resources such asutilization of heat, water, gases and minerals.6. Utilize the best available technologies that optimise the resource andconserve the reservoir such as binary generation and bottoming cycles.7. The developer of a geothermal field shall guarantee geothermal steamsupply for the contract term of the plant.8. Promote early geothermal generation through implementation of efficientmodular geothermal wellhead technologies.9. Undertake further geothermal resource assessments to determineadditional economically viable geothermal resources.10. Increase Government allocation of funds for the geothermal programmeand support GDC in sourcing more funds.Short Term2014-2017Implementation PlanMedium Term2014-2022Long Term2014-20303.3 HYDRO ENERGY1. Hydropower is electricity generated using the energy of moving water. Rain or melted snow,usually originating in hills and mountains, create streams and rivers that eventually run to lakes,seas or oceans. This energy has been exploited for centuries. In the late 19th century,hydropower became a source for generating electricity.2. A typical hydro plant is a system with three parts: an electric plant where the electricity isproduced; a dam that can be opened or closed to control water flow; and a reservoir wherewater can be stored. The amount of electricity that can be generated depends on how far thewater drops and how much water moves through the system.3. Hydropower is also readily available; engineers can control the flow of water through theturbines to produce electricity on demand. In addition, reservoirs may offer recreationalopportunities, such as swimming and boating. But damming rivers may destroy or disruptwildlife and other natural resources.4. Hydropower is, to date, the most successful form of renewable energy. The amount of electricalenergy generated depends upon the quantity of available water. Adverse hydrology can have adevastating effect on an economy that is heavily dependent on hydropower such as Kenya atpresent.5. Kenya has an estimated hydropower potential of about 6,000MW comprising of large hydros(sites with capacity of more than 10MW) and small hydros. Of the large hydros, 807MW hasbeen exploited and accounts for about 50% of installed generation capacity as at 2013 while46 NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY FINAL DRAFT NOVEMBER 2013