By Ken Muthomi - Reporter
Kenya, June 19, 2026 - The Ministry of Agriculture is pushing to transform the sugar industry into a major producer of electricity and biofuel, with sugar factories set to supply power to the national grid.
Speaking during a visit to West Valley Sugar Company, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe is engaging the Ministry of Energy to establish frameworks that will enable sugar factories to sell electricity generated from bagasse, a by-product of sugar processing, to the national grid.
Kagwe added that the government will introduce policy and fiscal incentives to encourage millers to invest in ethanol distillation plants and other value-added projects.
According to the CS, the future of the sugar sector in the country depends on maximising every component of sugarcane to produce sugar, electricity, ethanol, and other industrial products.
"West Valley is producing five megawatts of electricity with only a fraction of its bagasse. If the factory operated at full capacity, it could generate up to 15 megawatts. This is a fantastic opportunity not only for Kenya but for the region. Our neighbours are already doing this, and there is no reason we should be left behind," he said.
Kagwe said that the Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi should formulate policies that will allow sugar factories across the country to sell surplus electricity to the national grid, to strengthen energy security.
The CS, who described the cogeneration as an untapped economic opportunity, said that it will boost the country’s energy mix as well as generate additional income streams for farmers and millers.
Apart from electricity generation, the CS said that the government will support the expansion of ethanol production in the country to reduce fuel imports and save foreign exchange.
The CS noted that the instability in the Middle East experienced this year has exposed major vulnerabilities in the global energy market, thus necessitating the need for Kenya to diversify its fuel sources by embracing ethanol blending programmes similar to those implemented in Brazil and India.
More from Kenya