By HENRY OWINO
Various countries have marked the World Energy Day (WED) in various styles and capacity despite the challenges facing the energy sector. The annual World Energy Day celebrations is observed yearly on 22nd October to raise awareness on global energy related issues.
In Kenya, the WED celebrations are spearheaded by Eenovators Limited, the pioneer organizers of World Energy Day celebrations. The Eenovators is an Energy Consulting firm that is dedicated to offering innovative and reliable energy efficiency solutions.
The Eenovators limited known for energizing the world through innovative energy solutions, have partnered with the Association of Energy Professionals Eastern Africa (AEPEA) to organize a number of activities geared towards this year’s festivities.
The opening celebrations were launched at the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) Headquarters, RBS building in Nairobi, Kenya. KenGen is the leading electric power generation company in Kenya, producing about 75 percent of electricity.
The week-long celebrations conference is set to be officially flagged off on 25 October by Charles Keter, Cabinet Secretary for Energy at Best Western Meridian Hotel, Nairobi.
The WED conference is set to bring together key players in the energy sector, as well as visiting speakers around the globe. Notwithstanding, corporates across various sectors of the economy from public and private space.
Other guest speakers expected are from Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, and Dubai among others. The speakers are expected to set the future shape of energy in Africa.
James Ngomeli, Managing Director of Brands and Beyond who was the chief guest at the launch, flagged off this year’s celebrations. Mr Ngomeli is also Energy Communication expert and owns the magazine Watts Up.
“We really need energy innovations that bring energy closer to consumers. Let me encourage students to broaden their networks within the industry and to continuously develop solutions to the energy sector,” Mr Ngomeli advised.
“KenGen is committed to supporting the empowerment of the youth, in line with Government’s youth programmes,” Mr. Ngomeli asserted.
“There are many challenges our energy sector is facing in terms of satisfying the demands and needs of our customers. However, the company is working tirelessly around the clock to ensure energy is generated for supply,” Mr. Ngomeli said.
According to Mr. Warren Ondaje, the Technical Lead at Eenovators, there is need to have energy conversations in the world today, and how World Energy Day celebrations plug in to having people engaged.
While emphasizing the sentiments, Mr. Michael Kili, the Head of Membership at the AEPEA, said there is need to walk the energy efficiency talk, by ensuring that our homes and workplaces are energy efficient.
On her part, Ms Carolyne Gathuru, the Strategy Director at Eenovators, outlined the different activities that are planned for the WED celebrations. These include talks in schools on energy, individual and corporate competitions, student innovation challenge and the World Energy Day Conference.
Ms Gathuru noted that through sensitizing different groups among the public is the only way of reaching out to customers’ needs as well as understanding the company’s objectives.
“WED provides an opportunity for both individuals and organizations to practically demonstrate social responsibility,”Ms Gathuru said.
Ms Gathuru explained in order to participate as an organization, it involves creating a plan with ideas of how to conserve energy both at work and at home. The ideas may then be implemented during this World Energy Day Celebrations period.
The organizations will then report on their activities in the WED portal and stand a chance to be crowned the Corporate Energy Challenge winners.
Individuals are not left behind either as they have a chance to participate in an energy challenge dubbed the #Thitima Challenge.
To participate, individuals have been asked to switch off all appliances, machines, gadgets, lights for 1 min from 12.00 on 22nd October 2018, take a selfie of themselves, their friends and their colleagues as evidence and post it on Twitter using the hashtags #ThitimaChallenge #WorldEnergyDayKe2018.
The most creative and retweeted tweet during the World Energy Day Week stands to win Ksh.5000 worth of airtime and other exclusive prices.
The weeklong World Energy Day Celebrations will culminate with the WED Conference from 25 to 26 October, 2018 at the Best Western Meridian Hotel, Nairobi.
During the conference, the winner of the Student Energy Challenge will be crowned.
The student energy innovation challenge as one of the main activities is planned for students in colleges and universities in aspiration to nurture the next generation of energy enthusiasts.
The eminent panel of judges with business acumen, innovation prowess and energy expertise, will take part in evaluating and ranking the projects.
The top three projects will walk away with the prizes that include 3 months internship, incubation, and commercialization of ideas, shopping vouchers, and holiday experiences and cash prizes.
More information about the World Energy Day 2018 is available on the Eenovators website http://wed.eenovators.com/
