In sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya is considered one of the frontier countries in developing long-term electricity planning, locally known as Least Cost Power Development Plans (LCPDP). The LCPDP process, in the now unbundled electricity sub-sector, navigates different stakeholder interests to find a compromise that aligns with national development plans. A review of this multi-stakeholder process reveals various power dynamics and inefficiencies resulting in part in high power prices, which provoked a presidential directive to renegotiate power purchase agreements.  

This research investigated the factors contributing to the state of integrated energy systems planning in Kenya. The study focused on the integration of centralised and decentralised energy systems, specifically examining the role of governance structures and decision-making processes, power dynamics among various stakeholders and institutions, and the distributional impact of different policies.

A political economy approach was used to construct the framework for examining the energy system. This approach allowed the research to situate energy planning processes within Kenya’s broader social, political, and institutional context, paying attention to the interactions between actors with political and economic interests and the institutional arrangements that shaped the planning process and its implementation.

The project was part of workstream (WS) 5a, ‘Policies to Support CCG Investment’. WS5a applied a political economy lens to explore opportunities and barriers, decision-making contexts, and transition pathways that supported just transitions in CCG partner countries and beyond.