Publication details
Journal: Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 574, 149097, August 7th 2026
Doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149097
Arkiv: hdl.handle.net/11250/5558088
Archive: nva.sikt.no/registration/01a0145898d2-d934beb8-7fca-438d-b07d-432af2298300
Summary:
Africa’s economic growth in the coming decades will hinge on the strategic planning of national power systems to meet growing demand and ensure rural energy access. Renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar, will be pivotal in the expansion and transition to a low-carbon energy system. However, the vulnerability of these renewable sources to climate change could introduce imponderability in the design of the energy mix. In this regard, this paper explores a climate-informed energy system pathway by integrating the future climate projections directly into the capacity expansion of Kenya’s power system within three scenarios towards 2050, to formulate future energy profiles under climate change. The PyPSA-Earth model is applied to calculate capacity expansion decisions of the Kenyan power system. The EC-Earth3-Veg Earth System Model projects future climate variables such as wind speed. The cooling demands with global warming are estimated based on Cooling Degree Days (CDDs) projected by the Multi-Climate Model ensemble. The capacity expansion optimization results reveal that temperature increase leads to a rise in cooling demand, resulting in capacity expansion by 12% to 52% larger than the cooling demand without global warming. The projected change in wind speed is complex, with the onshore wind speed declining and the offshore wind speed rising, which causes a jump in the share of offshore wind power, taking 9% to 19% of the total capacity. Life cycle assessment indicates that large-scale deployment of wind and solar has less 5% climate change mitigation potential, but has 35% more total system cost compared to the baseline. In Kenya, geothermal is expected to continue playing a critical role in the energy strategy. Besides solar power, offshore wind is forecasted to become an important renewable energy source for Kenya. However, climate models’ resolutions and accuracy need to be further improved for effective integration into energy system modelling.