Kenya plans to install 3,000 megawatts of nuclear energy within the next seven years to drastically slash electricity tariffs and elevate national industrial competitiveness. Speaking at the ICONE 2026 conference, President William Ruto announced that construction will commence next year in Siaya County, anchoring a broader national strategy to aggressively boost Kenya's grid capacity from 3,300MW to 10,000MW.
Developed jointly by NuPEA and KenGen, the roadmap kicks off with advanced Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) before scaling up to a full-scale 2,000MW baseload plant commissioned by 2034. The strategic shift is projected to optimize the national energy mix and drive power costs down from 9 US cents to between 4 and 5.5 US cents per unit, establishing a resilient, low-cost grid framework.
The mega-project will heavily stimulate the regional built environment, generating 5,000 to 12,000 jobs during peak construction across manual labor and highly specialized engineering disciplines. To streamline execution, the state is mulling the transfer of nuclear regulatory oversight to the energy ministry, while local authorities mandate strict health and safety framework compliance to protect host communities.
Source: KBC
