Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) to accelerate geothermal power: Lessons from Kenya

This briefing describes the development of a Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) by the Government of Kenya to accelerate the expansion of geothermal power. The NAMA aims to mobilize private investment to support the country's low-carbon development goals, specifically targeting an increase in geothermal capacity to 5,000 MW by 2030. The document details the institutional challenges faced during the NAMA's creation, including stakeholder buy-in, financial partner engagement, and the difficulty of demonstrating 'additionality' in a sector already receiving significant investment.

• Kenya has set ambitious geothermal energy targets, aiming for a total production capacity of 5,000 MW by 2030, with a medium-term goal of 1,887 MW by 2017. As of October 2014, the installed capacity was approximately 340 MW.
• To reach the 5,000 MW goal, the private sector will need to provide approximately 40–50% of the required US$20 billion, a significant increase from the historical private investment level of 10–15%.
• The geothermal NAMA is designed to achieve two primary outcomes: improving the risk-return ratio to enhance investment opportunities and developing local human capacity across the supply chain. It specifically targets 820 MW of additional capacity and a reduction of 3.77 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) per year by 2020.
• A major challenge in the NAMA development process was the lack of awareness and initial skepticism from key stakeholders, including the state-owned developer KenGen and the Geothermal Development Company (GDC). Success required tailored communication and the identification of specific bottlenecks that the NAMA could solve.
• Engagement with Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, KfW, and AFD was hindered by the DFIs' inflexible internal processes and a lack of early, formal collaboration. The document recommends that governments involve DFIs earlier to ensure NAMA components are compatible with internal funding streams.
• The 'additionality' of the NAMA was difficult to articulate because the geothermal sector already received substantial investment. To address this, the NAMA focused on the 'transformation' of the sector—specifically increasing private sector participation—as a proxy for estimating emissions reductions.
• The government identified that technical staff were overburdened, which acted as a barrier to sector development. Consequently, providing support for technical staff became an integral part of the NAMA programme, and the management of the NAMA Facility application was outsourced to GIZ and the AfDB to avoid further burdening government resources.

APA

Falzon, J., Pols, D., King’uyu, S., & Wang’ombe, E. (2014). Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) to accelerate geothermal power: Lessons from Kenya. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Kenya-IS.pdf

Chicago

Falzon, James, Donald Pols, Stephen King’uyu, and Esther Wang’ombe. Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) to accelerate geothermal power: Lessons from Kenya. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2014. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Kenya-IS.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Falzon |first1=James |last2=Pols |first2=Donald |last3=King’uyu |first3=Stephen |last4=Wang’ombe |first4=Esther |title=Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) to accelerate geothermal power: Lessons from Kenya |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=December 2014 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Kenya-IS.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{falzon2014nationally, author = {Falzon, James and Pols, Donald and King’uyu, Stephen and Wang’ombe, Esther}, title = {{Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) to accelerate geothermal power: Lessons from Kenya}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2014}, month = dec, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Kenya-IS.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }