East African countries must make their renewable energy projects climate-smart for sustainable development, experts said on Wednesday.
Willis Ochieng, chief energy planner at the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), said the production of energy from renewable sources is increasingly being affected by climate change. Thus countries must invest more for sustainable electricity production.
“Wind, solar and hydropower production are now being affected by climate change. In the past, hydropower dams were filled during the rainy season but this is no longer guaranteed with unfolding effects of climate change,” said Ochieng during a virtual meeting on energy and climate change in East Africa.
To make energy production climate-smart, Ochieng said countries must invest in technology that forecasts wind speed and solar radiation in the short-term so that alternative energy sources can be adopted in case they are affected by the weather.
He added that a storage system can also be used to absorb the energy generated from the sources when they are available in plenty and then used when affected by vagaries of weather.
Tedd Mose, an advisor on energy, environment and natural resources law, said while renewable energy sources are costly to install, they are cheaper and better for the environment in the long-term. Enditem