Electricity Association signs MoU with Electric Mobility Africa

The Electricity Sector Association of Kenya (ESAK) on Monday, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association for Electric Mobility and Development in Africa.

Through a statement, ESAK said the move, which is in line with the Association's six-pillar blueprint is geared towards encouraging demand and adoption of e-mobility in the country.

'The ESAK 6-point strategy envisions the growth in e-mobility as important in driving demand growth. As a private sector, our focus is end-to-end where we not only serve the demand but also explore ways to increase it.'

"E-mobility is seen as a step towards enhancing the country's demand base as well as the adoption of clean energy," the statement read.

It further stated that the country's current peak demand stands at 2150 MW, a significant growth from 1900 MW as was recorded in 2021-2022.

'We seek to work together to identify existing market barriers and work with respective authorities to identify mitigation strategies.'

ESAK last year launched a six-pillar blueprint in efforts to encourage the growth of energy demand across the country as well as support the transition to 100% clean energy by 2030.

The thematic areas in focus include grid enhancement, reducing investor risks, financing, just transition as well as enabling policies and regulation.

Speaking during the signing in of the MoU, the chairperson of ESAK noted that the Association will work to support the infrastructure needed for the e-mobility sector.

'This includes having enough generation capacity, working with others to deploy charging infrastructure among others.'

He further stated that e-mobility will also help reduce petroleum imports and save on hard currency required to import petroleum for transportation needs.

"There is a growing movement towards the advancement of e-mobility in Kenya with various parties announcing their goals and activities with new fleets and charging stations," he said.

"The MoU between AEMDA and ESAK will bring together the private sector actors in electricity supply and those in the deployment of electric cars and motorbikes in a win win arrangement."