REA hosts Mali Rural Electrification Agency on benchmarking tour

The Mali Government is keen on implementing electrification projects similar to those put in place by the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) in order to promote sustainable socio-economic development of rural communities in the West African country.

Speaking during a benchmarking tour to REA, leader of delegation, Hamadoun Oumar Toure, Deputy Director of the Malian Agency for the Development of Household Energy and Rural Electrification (AMADER), said the purpose of the visit to REA was to share the Kenyan experience in off-grid electrification accomplishments, the role of government and regulators in developing the energy off-grid sector and the role of the private sector.

“We are impressed by the work that REA is doing, our mission was to learn about the progress and programs that have been implemented in rural electrification and at this level I can see that Kenya has realized a lot and we have learnt a lot” said Toure

The delegation was appraised on REA’s Project implementation and off-grid electrification activities and the challenges that the Authority is facing as it works towards the goal of achieving universal access by the year 2022.

Edward Gakunju, Manager Business Development at REA informed the delegation that the Authority is now shifting focus to renewable energy sources only as it carries out electrification activities in off-grid areas and that electrification in the country was now at 68%. “We still have a lot to do in connecting the remaining 32%, we also have issues of lowering tariffs because we would like to have more of that from renewable energy and we are requesting for continued support from the government” Gakunju said. There are 88,570 public facilities in the country out of which 28,323 are un-electrified.

The visit was facilitated by the World Bank Lighting Africa program. The objective of the program is to enable more than 250 million people across sub-Saharan Africa currently living without electricity to gain access to clean, affordable, quality off-grid lighting and energy products by 2030.

Gakunju added that REA is also implementing projects with development partners like the World Bank “without them some of these projects would not be implemented” He singled out the Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project (K-OSAP) project which he said is a huge project by the World Bank and once implemented it will be a major milestone for electrifying off-grid areas.

K-OSAP is a15.5 Billion shillings World Bank funded project aimed at increasing access to electricity services in underserved counties in Kenya. Beneficiaries will be households, public and community institutions, enterprises and community facilities that cannot access electricity through the national grid and whose use of electricity will replace kerosene and other fuels for lighting and other activities like pumping water.