Local content and capabilities

Abstract

This chapter presents a historical analysis of Kenya's policy process in renewable electrification (RE) from 1999 to 2019. The policy process reflects some efforts to promote industrialisation in the energy sector, which may be a positive step towards attainment of inclusive and sustainable development in this subsector. It is not, however, clear how these efforts translate to meaningful learning and local capabilities that are critical to building a sustainable industrialisation in emerging economies. Using novel data from a survey and secondary data, the chapter investigates changes in RE policies as far as capability development and Local Content Requirements (LCRs) are concerned and stakeholders' views about this. With the term local content, we mean the use of Kenyan local expertise, goods, and services, people and business for systematic development of national capacity, and capabilities geared towards the enhancement of the economy. The analysis of the energy policy process through the lens of capabilities identifies key policy and practice gaps that require policy support in developing requisite capabilities for support to sustainable industrialisation. From the stakeholders' survey, the majority of the stakeholders were of the opinion that deployment of technologies for RE provides opportunities for building local technical capabilities and other skills like project management.