From May 2025 through April 2026, Kenya consumed about 15.2 TWh of electricity, with low-carbon generation supplying roughly 83%, fossil generation 7%, and net imports the remaining 10%. Geothermal was the largest source, providing about 6.4 TWh—more than two-fifths of the total—followed by hydropower at 3.5 TWh and wind at 1.9 TWh. Imports are listed separately because their generation mix is not specified. Electricity consumption averaged just 265 kWh per person, around 7% of the global average of 3,794 kWh per person. Such limited electricity availability can constrain industry, healthcare, education and household services, making substantial growth in clean electricity particularly important.

Is Electricity Growing in Kenya?

Electricity consumption in Kenya is growing, although the latest gains are modest relative to the need. The latest 2026 figure of 265 kWh per person exceeds the previous record of 259 kWh in 2025 by about 2%. Low-carbon electricity generation also reached a new record, rising from 213 to 219 kWh per person, an increase of 6 kWh, or roughly 3%. These records are welcome progress: clean generation is growing slightly faster than consumption per person. Accelerating that growth would help Kenya expand electricity access and meet future demand from electrification, businesses and digital infrastructure.

Suggestions

Kenya should expand its established wind generation while developing more solar, geothermal and nuclear electricity. South Africa offers a useful regional reference, generating about 20 TWh from solar and 12 TWh from nuclear; Kenya could draw lessons from its experience developing both technologies. Other relevant examples include Brazil, with about 110 TWh of wind and 88 TWh of solar electricity, and India, with roughly 205 TWh of solar, 125 TWh of wind and 54 TWh of nuclear generation. These figures demonstrate the substantial contributions these clean technologies can make, rather than providing directly comparable targets for Kenya. Kenya can pursue additional wind projects, scale up solar installations and prepare for nuclear generation through workforce training, regulatory development and international partnerships. Grid expansion would help deliver this growing clean electricity supply to homes and businesses while reducing reliance on fossil generation and its associated air pollution and climate impacts.

History

Kenya’s low-carbon electricity history shows successive contributions from hydropower, geothermal and wind. Around the turn of the century, hydropower added 1.1 TWh in 2001 and another 0.7 TWh in 2002. Further substantial additions followed in 2010 and 2012, at 1.3 TWh and 0.8 TWh respectively. Geothermal then delivered a major expansion of 2.1 TWh in 2014, followed by another 0.6 TWh in 2017. In the late 2010s and early 2020s, the clean electricity mix broadened further: hydropower added 0.8 TWh in 2018, wind added 1.3 TWh in 2019, hydropower added 1 TWh in 2020, and wind contributed another 0.7 TWh in 2021. More recently, geothermal added 0.5 TWh in 2023 and hydropower added 0.9 TWh in 2024, reinforcing the importance of expanding several complementary low-carbon electricity sources.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade

* 12M = Last 12 months (May 2025 – Apr 2026) — a rolling 12-month period, not a calendar year.