Scramble for CEO jobs in plum energy sector firms

This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.

A scramble is underway for chief executive positions in plum parastatals in the energy sector, which is currently awash with mega projects valued billions of shillings aimed at boosting Kenya’s electricity production and supply.

The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) on Tuesday invited interested candidates to apply for the company’s CEO role, while the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) advertised its vacant position of Director-General.

This comes barely a week after the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (Nock) also invited candidates to fill its CEO position and replace Leparan Morintat, whose six-year tenure has ended.

The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company also opened the race for its CEO job in April, and the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) in May invited applicants for its Managing Director position.

The vacancies at KenGen, Nock, GDC, Epra and Ketraco are due to varied reasons, including resignations, run-out contracts as well as sackings.

“KenGen, a market leader in the provision of renewable energy solutions and the largest geothermal power producer in Africa, is seeking to recruit qualified and result-oriented individuals to fill the following positions: Managing Director & CEO,” KenGen said on Tuesday.

Peter Njenga, the outgoing CEO and Managing Director of KenGen, has attained the retirement age of 60 years, locking him out of the running for a second and final term of three years.

Daniel Kiptoo and Joe Sang resigned as the Director- General of Epra and Kenya Pipeline Company, respectively in April in the wake of a controversial importation of petrol outside the Government-to-Government framework.

Most of the CEO/Managing Director positions in State-owned firms have three-year tenures, renewable once, subject to performance. Stephen Busieney and Kipkemoi Kibias are currently the acting CEO/Managing Director of GDC and Ketraco, respectively. The two took over the roles last year.

Mr Busieney replaced Paul Ngugi after the State opted not to renew his three-year term, while Mr Kibias took over at Ketraco after the sacking of John Mativo in September last year.

The new CEOs/Managing Directors will be tasked with delivering multibillion-shilling projects considered key to bolstering Kenya’s electricity supply security.

For example, KenGen is eyeing $4.3 billion (Sh556.9 billion) projects that will add 1,500Megawatts (MW) of renewable energy and deploy 500 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage by 2034.

Records show that KenGen is advancing major renewable energy projects, upgrading its oldest geothermal assets, and expanding a massive green energy pipeline targeting a 5,500MW capacity by 2034.

Key highlights include upgrading the Olkaria I geothermal plant in Naivasha to reach up to 63.3MW, scaling up the Olkaria Green Energy Park, and recalibrating its long-term strategic growth framework.

Ketraco is also set to deliver Kenya’s first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) funded electricity transmission lines valued at $311 million (Sh40.26 billion) in a deal with Africa50 and Power Grid Corporation of India.

GDC is pushing to get independent power producers to build geothermal power plants with a combined capacity of 300 Megawatts (MW) in the Paka, Silali and Suswa by 2032.

Development of the Olkaria, Menengai, and Suswa fields is part of the State's ambitious plan to more than double geothermal capacity from the current 940MW to 1,824MW by 2030 as part of the transition to a 100 percent clean national grid.

Reporting originally appeared via Business Daily. Read the full source for additional context.