Power and Energy

The Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) and other energy-related regional projects/initiatives provide frameworks for pooling energy resources, promoting power exchanges between utilities in Eastern Africa and reduce power supply costs based on an integrated master plan.

Geothermal institutions in Africa Rift Valley System have provided opportunities to further increase power supply by utilising renewable energy sources. The geothermal potential for the East Africa region exceeds 15,000 MW and represents a US$40 billion investment opportunity.

However, inadequate energy supply is the biggest infrastructure problem. East Africa has the lowest energy generating capacity per capita on the continent, and stakeholders identify inconsistent supply as a major cost.

Poor energy supply causes blackouts and demands expensive supplementary generators. For energy intensive production, inconsistent power supply is a major competitive disadvantage. In addition, developing the power grid and ways to manage and trade new energy remain challenging. The region has untapped hydro, wind, and fossil fuel resources that could increase energy supply.

The problem of electricity supply is acute for small firms and households. For cooking, for example, the vast majority of households in the region still rely on wood and charcoal, which is one of the most environmentally inefficient energy sources. The planned expansion in electrification from 35 percent to 60 percent of households in East Africa could create greatly expanded demand for durable goods, a class of manufacturing well-suited to the region.

The East African Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP) is designed to address challenges in skills shortage and mismatch, by providing technical, financial and industry partnership to increase access and improve the relevance and quality of training programs in the 16 selected regional TVET flagship institutes.

EASTRIP project supports the development of highly specialized TVET programs in geothermal and hydro power for training of technicians and TVET faculty. The following institutes have been selected as Regional Flagship TVET Institutes for Skills Development in power and energy sector.

Ethiopia

 Kenya

 Tanzania