Plans are underway to build a Sh10 billion green energy plant at Kaimosi Friends University College (Kafuco) in Vihiga County.
The ambitious venture will convert waste into clean energy and is expected to help mitigate the effects of climate change, said Prof Jack Nandi, the Kafuco principal.
Waste will be burnt into 16 different products that will generate energy for the local and regional market.
The mega project is also poised to turn around the economies of the sleepy towns of Kaimosi, Cheptul and Shamakhokho, as well as the rest of the county by creating jobs and attracting other investments.
Kafuco has signed a memorandum of agreement with a potential donor from the United Kingdom to boost the project.
Blackburn, a UK-based energy firm, has been identified as the sponsor that will fully fund the plant.
Prof Nandi said Kafuco sits within a tropical forest, explaining its keen interest in clean energy and mitigating climate change.
“As the only university in a tropical forest we have a lot of interest in areas of forestry, conservation and climate change. This is an opportunity for us to explore these interests and mount programmes,” said Prof Nandi.
This, he said, will place the college at the heart of environmental conservation and enable it to play a key role in the debate on climate change.
“The plant will produce several energy products, numbering about 16. This will help reduce the cost of energy while at the same time placing us at the heart of addressing climate change,” he said.
Under the lease agreement, Blackburn will operate the plant for up to 15 years. The land is part of the 200 acres owned by Kafuco, which was established in September 2014.
The Vihiga County government is the intermediary for Blackburn and the link between the investor and the National Treasury.
Trade executive Geoffrey Vukaya said the plant will create 300 direct permanent jobs and 1,500 casuals.
Under the draft deal, the investor will retain 30 per cent of the profits while the college and the county government will share the remaining 70 per cent.
Mr Vukaya was upbeat that the plant will be a key economic venture that will offer employment opportunities to locals.
The project comes as Governor Wilber Ottichilo’s administration starts a climate change mitigation awareness programme to combat global warming.
The programme, said Environment executive Mary Amalemba, will cover all 25 wards following the creation of ward-level climate change committees after the enactment of the Vihiga County Climate Change Fund Act, 2019.
Committee members will be trained on proposal writing and the climate change project cycle, among other key environmental and climate matters.
The committees are expected to draw funding from the World Bank, which has agreed to fund efforts to address the effects of climate change in all counties.
Dr Ottichilo, the chairperson of the Council of Governors Environment Committee, helped lobby for the funding.
At a past event, Dr Ottichilo said climate change mitigation could only succeed if residents are directly involved.
This, he noted, could be done through the ward climate committees that will undertake environmental programmes that address the identified needs of locals.
The Kafuco project will be overseen by officials including Prof Maurice Amadalo, the deputy principal for finance and development.
Others are Dr Caroline Mulinya, the director of international and academic linkages, and Dr Remmy Shiundu, the director for research, innovation and outreach.
Also involved are Dr John Ayisi, a senior research officer, economics lecturer Geoffrey Abung’ana and Bio-gel Enterprise lead officer Boniface Jiveri.
