Kenya Eyes Chinese Investment to Accelerate Its Clean Energy Transition

At Kenya Trade Week 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya said it hopes to attract Chinese investment and manufacturers to accelerate its clean energy transition and to build itself into East Africa's green manufacturing hub.

Kenya's invitation

Thomas Karungu, an official with Kenya's energy department, said the country welcomes Chinese investment in solar panel manufacturing, transformers, smart meters, transmission equipment and electric-vehicle charging infrastructure. He added that there is also room for cooperation in geothermal development, mini-grid deployment, clean cooking, waste-to-energy projects and digital management of the power network.

Under its plans, Kenya intends to expand its national transmission network by about 8,000 kilometers and aims to add roughly 12,000 megavolt-amperes of transmission capacity by 2030. Officials point to abundant renewable resources, a strategic regional position and a growing market as competitive advantages for attracting investment.

Intense competition

For Chinese firms, Africa's clean energy market offers both opportunity and competition. A representative of a Chinese renewable energy company acknowledged that competition in the sector is very intense, because most suppliers come from China. The company had expanded into Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe before entering Kenya.

Kenya stressed that it wants cooperation to go beyond exporting equipment, to include local assembly, component manufacturing, technology transfer, research training and supply-chain development, so that investment truly takes root locally.

In the bigger picture, such cooperation is a snapshot of how China and Africa are aligning on green development. For Kenya, whether it can use outside investment to build a local industrial chain will decide whether it can move from a user of clean energy to a regional center of manufacturing and supply.