| Abstract |
Kenya has established a road map on how to become a middle income economy by the year 2030. One of the challenges for this vision is the unavailability of energy mainly electricity to power the vision. There was therefore need for a strategic plan to accelerate development of power generation facilities to avail power to support industrial and infrastructural development. Kenya has in the past heavily depended on hydroelectricity which comprises of 2/3 of the total amount of electricity available on the national grid. This mode of power generation has in the recent past been adversely affected by long dry spells due to climate change, leading to high dependency on diesel plants whose electricity is more costly and contributes to climate change. In view of the above, Kenya has had to explore other modes of power generation such as wind, solar and geothermal. More focus has however shifted to geothermal exploitation because previous studies had shown the resource available stands at over 7000MW. The geothermal power generation mode has also been found to be sustainable and environment friendly. Geothermal exploitation is a highly specialized sector that requires highly specialized human resources mainly scientists and engineers. Kenya has made milestones in training scientists who are directly participating in geothermal exploitation both in the Geothermal Development Company and Kenya Electricity Generating Company as well as offering consultancy to other East African countries. This paper highlights the need, how and to what level the engineers can also be trained to enable them play a critical role in geothermal development in Kenya and beyond. |