This article examined how Kenya’s transition to renewable energy can be made more just, focusing on the roles of policy incentives, institutional capacity, and equity-oriented provisions. The study aimed to assess whether financial and regulatory incentives, local institutional strength, and community benefit measures influenced renewable capacity adoption, employment creation, and public acceptance across counties. A concurrent mixed methods design was employed, combining a cross-sectional survey of 162 stakeholders from Busia, Kilifi, Turkana, Garissa, and Nakuru counties with twelve semi-structured interviews involving county energy officers, project managers, and community leaders. Quantitative data were analyzed using simple linear regression, while qualitative data were coded thematically in NVivo. The findings showed that counties offering stronger policy incentives achieved higher renewable energy capacity per capita, though these gains were contingent on effective institutional support. Institutional capacity strongly correlated with employment in the renewable energy sector, highlighting the importance of skilled personnel, dedicated energy offices, and coordinated governance. Equity-oriented provisions, such as local hiring and benefit-sharing programs, significantly increased public acceptance, but only when implementation was credible and transparent. The study concludes that a just energy transition requires the integration of policy support, institutional competence, and visible equity measures. It recommends aligning incentives with local capacity, embedding fairness in project design, and engaging communities early to ensure that renewable energy growth is both technically successful and socially inclusive.
| Published in | International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy (Volume 14, Issue 4) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijsge.20251404.13 |
| Page(s) | 261-271 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Renewable Energy, Energy Justice, Institutional Capacity, Policy Incentives, Equity, Kenya, Mixed Methods
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APA Style
Njiru, F. M. (2025). Towards a Just Transition in Renewable Energy: Policy, Equity and Institutional Dynamics in Kenya. International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy, 14(4), 261-271. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijsge.20251404.13
ACS Style
Njiru, F. M. Towards a Just Transition in Renewable Energy: Policy, Equity and Institutional Dynamics in Kenya. Int. J. Sustain. Green Energy 2025, 14(4), 261-271. doi: 10.11648/j.ijsge.20251404.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijsge.20251404.13,
author = {Fridah Mutitu Njiru},
title = {Towards a Just Transition in Renewable Energy: Policy, Equity and Institutional Dynamics in Kenya},
journal = {International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy},
volume = {14},
number = {4},
pages = {261-271},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijsge.20251404.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijsge.20251404.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijsge.20251404.13},
abstract = {This article examined how Kenya’s transition to renewable energy can be made more just, focusing on the roles of policy incentives, institutional capacity, and equity-oriented provisions. The study aimed to assess whether financial and regulatory incentives, local institutional strength, and community benefit measures influenced renewable capacity adoption, employment creation, and public acceptance across counties. A concurrent mixed methods design was employed, combining a cross-sectional survey of 162 stakeholders from Busia, Kilifi, Turkana, Garissa, and Nakuru counties with twelve semi-structured interviews involving county energy officers, project managers, and community leaders. Quantitative data were analyzed using simple linear regression, while qualitative data were coded thematically in NVivo. The findings showed that counties offering stronger policy incentives achieved higher renewable energy capacity per capita, though these gains were contingent on effective institutional support. Institutional capacity strongly correlated with employment in the renewable energy sector, highlighting the importance of skilled personnel, dedicated energy offices, and coordinated governance. Equity-oriented provisions, such as local hiring and benefit-sharing programs, significantly increased public acceptance, but only when implementation was credible and transparent. The study concludes that a just energy transition requires the integration of policy support, institutional competence, and visible equity measures. It recommends aligning incentives with local capacity, embedding fairness in project design, and engaging communities early to ensure that renewable energy growth is both technically successful and socially inclusive.},
year = {2025}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Towards a Just Transition in Renewable Energy: Policy, Equity and Institutional Dynamics in Kenya AU - Fridah Mutitu Njiru Y1 - 2025/12/09 PY - 2025 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijsge.20251404.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ijsge.20251404.13 T2 - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy JF - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy JO - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy SP - 261 EP - 271 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2575-1549 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijsge.20251404.13 AB - This article examined how Kenya’s transition to renewable energy can be made more just, focusing on the roles of policy incentives, institutional capacity, and equity-oriented provisions. The study aimed to assess whether financial and regulatory incentives, local institutional strength, and community benefit measures influenced renewable capacity adoption, employment creation, and public acceptance across counties. A concurrent mixed methods design was employed, combining a cross-sectional survey of 162 stakeholders from Busia, Kilifi, Turkana, Garissa, and Nakuru counties with twelve semi-structured interviews involving county energy officers, project managers, and community leaders. Quantitative data were analyzed using simple linear regression, while qualitative data were coded thematically in NVivo. The findings showed that counties offering stronger policy incentives achieved higher renewable energy capacity per capita, though these gains were contingent on effective institutional support. Institutional capacity strongly correlated with employment in the renewable energy sector, highlighting the importance of skilled personnel, dedicated energy offices, and coordinated governance. Equity-oriented provisions, such as local hiring and benefit-sharing programs, significantly increased public acceptance, but only when implementation was credible and transparent. The study concludes that a just energy transition requires the integration of policy support, institutional competence, and visible equity measures. It recommends aligning incentives with local capacity, embedding fairness in project design, and engaging communities early to ensure that renewable energy growth is both technically successful and socially inclusive. VL - 14 IS - 4 ER -
Department of Public Policy and Administration, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya
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