11-06-08 Two liquefied petroleum gas handling and storage facilities are to be built in Mombasa in the next two years. Energy PS Patrick Nyoike said the move seeks to reduce demand for wood fuel, which accounts for 68 % of national energy consumption.
Speaking at the launch of the Kenya Energy Sector Environmental Programme (Keep) in Nairobi, Mr Nyoike said the first project, to be undertaken by a private investor, is expected to be commissioned by August next year at an initial storage capacity of 7,000 tons. The second project, which will be a public/private partnership, will be completed by June 2010.

Mr Nyoike said that on completion, a sharp increase in liquefied petroleum gas consumption is expected from the current 78,000 tons annually. The country's consumption of LPG, he said, is extremely low compared to countries such as Senegal, which has a per capita consumption of 12.2 kg. Kenya consumes about 2.1 kg per capita.
He said that consumers will benefit from increased competition, as moreplayers will participate in LPG importation from non-traditional sources.

Kenya currently imports liquefied gas from Bahrain. The country's energy mix is dominated by woody biomass fuel, accounting for 68 % of the national energy consumption, with the balance being made up of petroleum fuels at about 22 %, electricity at 9 % and coal at 1 %.
The PS said that the Keep programme will also facilitate production of electric power distribution poles by farmers. He said the demand for power distribution poles is expected to rise rapidly due to the Government's commitment to connect at least 1 mm households to the national grid by 2012.

Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi has indicated that the Government intends to phase out the importation of poles by 2015. He said the country spends about Sh 1 bn a year on importation of poles.
"I wonder why we should spend billions to import poles from Finland, South Africa, Chile, Tanzania, and among others yet we can plant fast maturing trees," he said.