What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

As the country is situated within the tropics, we have plentiful sunlight, making solar power a critical resource. Our abundance of geothermal energy is powered by heat from the earth’s crust, while hydropower opportunities are determined by climatic and hydrological conditions. There are many locations in Kenya where wind speeds are optimal for power generation – but wind cuts both ways. Unfortunately, wind that is too strong is not conducive to power generation, as it may spin turbines too fast and damage them.

Geothermal power is essential in Kenya and is, indeed, the dominant source of baseload power. This is because by its nature it is able to supply ‘firm power’, meaning that the supply is both adequate and stable enough to be relied on.

The most important factor driving the transition is that people around the world have come to understand the dynamics around global warming, which is caused and exacerbated by the greenhouse effect created by emissions from burning fossil fuels. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and harnessing renewable sources is a demonstration of responsible citizenship, on both corporate and personal scales. There’s also an understanding that we need to protect our planet and our environment – we see glaciers melting, animal species being forced out of their natural habitats, which are no longer hospitable to them, and rising sea levels resulting in water bodies encroaching on human settlements and wreaking havoc.

We also need to be able to make use of freely available resources like wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal power, as opposed to depending on fossil fuels, which are not readily available in Africa and are expensive to process and mostly have to be imported.

As a bank, we are driven by the purpose that, Kenya is our home, we drive her growth. We’ve been intentional in supporting the empowerment of businesses through thought leadership sessions, bringing in experts and sharing the best available knowledge about renewable energy adoption. We’ve also been supporting clients who have gone into the renewable energy space. For example, we are part of the financing team which supported the establishment of the Lake Turkana Wind Farm, which is the largest wind farm in Africa, producing 310MW of reliable, low-cost energy from wind.

• Read More