A news item last week mentioned that Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) and Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen ) have entered into an agreement for KenGen to develop a power generating plant using city solid waste - call it Waste to Energy (WTE) power plant. This is not an entirely novel technology as it is in use in many cities around the world.
Nairobi city has in the past undertaken WTE studies, but these were never implemented. Any new feasibility study will therefore not be starting from scratch. The proposed WTE project must be viewed as an economic, environmental, and social opportunity to not only increase renewable energy generation, but also to sort out a malignant garbage problem that has overwhelmed the city of Nairobi for many years.
