Energy is a hot issue in all societies worldwide, and so with ours. Forget about the big energy by the big multinationals. Wanjiku is in need of a new energy regime that would quickly transform her fortunes socially, economically and even culturally.
It is for this reason that the County Governments are best placed to play a catalytic role in this journey for the search of energy by the adoption of the Sustainable Energy for All proposal and actions.
This way, households at the county level will experience a major paradigm shift on how their energy is sourced and utilised. The beauty of this agenda is that there are major actors in the market place that are committed toward supporting the grassroots achieve this transformation.
Besides there are new and advanced technologies in the market place that can easily be adopted at the grassroots level to bring forth this change. Cases of biogas digesters, improved cook stoves, production of briquettes, solar PV among others are already taking root.
But to succeed on this great agenda, counties, led by their governors and the executives charged with energy, should take the lead. If anything, these new techniques and proposals are geared toward the benefit of the counties for they will spur growth. Counties will also take pride as having facilitated the new energy revolution amongst their people.
County governments should also facilitate entry of energy investors into their jurisdictions by provision of supportive policy and necessary infrastructure. This way, both the small investor and large ones will strive toward provision of sustainable energy. The adoption of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework towards the provision of sustainable energy will be critical in this endeavor.
It should be noted that the SE4All is a glo
bal initiative where other communities worldwide are making admirable steps in the three main objectives of:
- Universal access to modern energy services
- Doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency
- Doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix
Our counties, thus, need to join their counterparts globally towards this agenda.
This means that the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, together with sector players should now be in conversations with counties for the adoption and implementation of the Action Agenda and even the proposed opportunities in the Investment Agenda.
What we must all appreciate is that the rudimentary ways of lighting and cooking that are in place today are never sustainable. If anything, our fortune of wood fuel is shrinking at an alarming rate yet the population is rising. Only those counties that will adopt to new technologies and sources of energy will remain afloat.
To stem this imminent crisis, the time for action is now.