Speaking at the signing ceremony witnessed by Obama, Deputy President William Ruto said the money will be used to fund clean energy projects in the country.

 

"We have been working on increasing power generation in the country, so these grants will allow us to continue exploiting the vast geothermal resources in the country. It is our intention that the private sector will continue to be actively involved," Ruto said, adding the government wants clean and renewable energy.

 

The money will be channelled through the Kenya Electricity Generating Company, which signed the agreement with the United States Trade and Development Agency on behalf of the Kenyan government.

 

Auto said the deal is in line with President Obama’s legacy – Power Africa initiative – which, at full implementation, is expected to contribute immensely to the increase and diversification of power generation across Africa.

 

President Obama launched Power Africa two years ago to bring together technical and legal experts, the private sector, and governments from around the world to work in partnership to increase the number of people with access to power.

 

Ruto said the government is committed to providing cheap electricity within the next few months.

 

"Indeed the government has achieved significant progress towards our stated target of increasing power generation capacity in Kenya by 5000 MW between the year 2013 and 2018."

 

He said Kenya had doubled the number of citizens connected to the grid from around 13 million to almost 25 million, and more than 14,000 new schools now have electricity.

 

"Over 40 new substations have also been commissioned since our government came to office in 2013, raising power generation by close to 1,000 MW."

 

This, he said, had resulted in significant reductions in the cost of power in the country.

Source : www.the-star.co.ke