Kenya renewable energy sector growth presents an important opportunity to advance industrial development, create decent work, and promote gender-equitable development. However, expanding renewable energy generation does not automatically ensure that Kenyan firms, workers, women, and communities receive a fair share of the economic and social benefits.
This case study examines the extent of localisation in Kenya’s solar and wind industries, the quality of employment being created, and whether women can participate equitably in the sector. It finds that Kenya’s renewable energy industries have expanded significantly, but domestic participation remains limited, uneven, and concentrated in lower-value activities.
Kenyan firms are primarily involved in distribution, installation, sales, assembly, engineering, procurement and construction contracting, civil works, maintenance, repair, and customer services. Higher-value activities—including solar-cell production, inverter manufacturing, wind-turbine component manufacturing, advanced research and design, technology ownership, and intellectual property—remain largely controlled outside Kenya.
The report argues that localisation should not be understood only as the immediate establishment of complete, upstream manufacturing industries. Kenya can pursue a staged approach that builds on its existing industrial capabilities while progressively developing the finance, skills, technologies, and productive capacity needed for deeper industrial upgrading.
Evidence from firms, workers, and communities
The case study brings together evidence from several research processes conducted as part of the wider Just Energy Transition project. These include a survey of 700 renewable energy firms across Central, Coastal, and Western Kenya; 54 interviews and a focus-group discussion; a focused survey of five manufacturing firms; a review of Kenya’s policy framework; and a national policy dialogue involving public institutions, industry, labour, civil society, and academia.
This evidence provides insight into where value is created and captured, the kinds of jobs generated, the experiences of women in the sector, and the factors preventing Kenyan firms from moving into higher-value activities.
The study uses a Global Production Network framework to examine the relationships between international manufacturers, technology owners, financiers, Kenyan firms, public institutions, workers, and communities. These relationships shape what domestic firms can produce, the value they retain, the working conditions they offer, and who can participate in the sector.
Opportunities for staged localisation
The study finds that the Kenya renewable energy sector remains heavily dependent on imported technologies and components, particularly from China. Foreign suppliers and original equipment manufacturers capture substantial value through component sales, technology ownership, and long-term service agreements. Financial institutions also capture returns through interest payments and renewable energy investments.
Kenyan firms create and retain value through assembly, distribution, installation, civil works, maintenance, customer relationships, and related services. However, many operate with low margins and face competition from imported equipment that benefits from duty and value-added tax exemptions.
The report identifies practical opportunities to deepen localisation without assuming that Kenya can immediately manufacture every component of a solar or wind system. Feasible entry points include solar mounting structures, wiring, electrical fittings, battery-pack assembly, wind-turbine towers and foundations, civil works, repair and maintenance, installation, distribution, and after-sales services.
These activities can help Kenyan firms capture more value, develop technical capabilities, and create a foundation for future industrial upgrading. Local repair and maintenance industries could also generate more stable, skilled employment than a model based predominantly on short-term construction and installation projects.
SMMEs already play an important role in last-mile distribution, installation, retail, maintenance, and customer support. Their relationships with local communities provide an advantage in serving households, small businesses, and underserved areas. However, their ability to expand is constrained by limited access to affordable finance, certification, skilled workers, procurement opportunities, and technology partnerships.
Renewable energy employment is not automatically decent work
Kenya’s renewable energy expansion has created a significant employment base. Decentralised renewable energy activities supported approximately 53,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs in 2022. Employment is expanding in solar installation, sales, distribution, maintenance, customer service, civil works, and project-based construction.
However, the study finds that many jobs are casual, temporary, poorly paid, and weakly protected. Formal contracts, social protection, occupational health and safety systems, opportunities for skills progression, and mechanisms through which workers can raise concerns remain limited. These problems are especially pronounced among SMMEs and workers employed through informal or subcontracting arrangements.
Concentrating domestic firms in low-margin activities affects the quality of the jobs they can provide. Expanding localisation without addressing employment standards could therefore increase domestic participation while reproducing insecure and poorly protected work.
The report argues that local-content requirements, public procurement, donor-funded projects, and enterprise-support programmes should include enforceable decent-work conditions. These should cover formal contracts, occupational health and safety, social protection, recognised skills and qualifications, and meaningful worker voice.
Gender inequality limits participation
Women participate in parts of the Kenya renewable energy sector, particularly in sales, administration, customer relations, community engagement, and some installation and maintenance roles. However, they remain underrepresented in engineering, system design, advanced technical work, leadership, ownership, and decision-making.
This inequality reflects more than recruitment decisions by individual firms. Women’s participation is also shaped by gendered training pathways, cultural assumptions about technical work, limited access to finance, unsafe or unsupportive workplaces, and unpaid care responsibilities.
Care responsibilities can restrict women’s mobility, access to training, and ability to undertake field-based or project work. Gender-blind localisation could consequently deepen existing inequalities, even if the overall number of renewable energy jobs increases.
The report calls for gender-transformative technical and vocational education and training, mentorship, safe workplaces, childcare and transport support, targeted finance, and procurement opportunities for women-led enterprises. These interventions would expand women’s access to technical occupations while supporting their progression into leadership and ownership.
Building regional production networks
Kenya’s localisation strategy should not be limited to the national market. Many Kenyan firms are too small to justify capital-intensive manufacturing investments based only on domestic demand.
Regional production networks could connect Kenya’s capabilities in assembly, construction, logistics, and technical services with complementary resources and manufacturing capabilities elsewhere in East and Central Africa. The African Continental Free Trade Area offers a framework through which countries could specialise in different materials, components, manufacturing activities, and services.
This approach could enlarge markets, diversify sources of inputs, and create the economies of scale needed for regional component manufacturing. Kenya could pursue domestic capabilities in strategically viable segments while developing complementary production and supply-chain partnerships with neighbouring countries.
Policies for an inclusive energy transition
The report recommends that Kenya prioritise realistic local-content pathways in activities such as mounting structures, wiring, electrical fittings, and turbine towers. These measures should be supported by predictable procurement, enforceable local-content requirements, supplier development, technology-transfer commitments, and stronger links between firms and training institutions.
It also calls for patient, SMME-oriented finance, including asset-backed loans, green credit lines, and blended concessional financing. Such instruments could help domestic firms invest in equipment, meet technical standards, formalise employment, and develop new capabilities.
Institutional coordination and accountability must also improve. National and county governments need to coordinate energy planning, industrial policy, standards, procurement, employment regulation, and gender policy more effectively. Existing policies will have limited effect without institutions possessing the resources and authority needed to implement and enforce them.
The study concludes that Kenya’s most viable pathway is selective and staged localisation. The objective is to transform downstream participation into a ladder through which firms, workers, women, young people, and communities can enter higher-value activities.
The success of the Kenya renewable energy sector should ultimately be measured not only by the amount of clean energy generated, but also by whether the transition builds domestic capabilities, creates secure and skilled employment, advances gender equity, and shifts economic opportunity and decision-making power towards those currently positioned at the margins.