Energy plan to help tea factories save Sh16bn yearly

A worker loads tea leaves on a conveyor belt at Iriaini Tea Factory in Nyeri County. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By JAMES KARIUKI

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Summary

• Tea factories urged to adopt energy-efficient air blowers in their drying processes.
• This will help to reduce carbon emissions and dependence on wood to dry leaves.

Tea factories could save up to Sh16 billion every year if they adopt energy-efficient air blowers in their drying processes.

Environment Principal Secretary Betty Maina told a workshop that if all the 69 plants managed by the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) acquired the new machines, they would reduce carbon emissions and dependence on wood to dry leaves. This, she said, will be a major stride in saving the country’s dwindling forest cover.

“Economically, KTDA will potentially save in energy expenses, a total of Sh16 billion annually which can be ploughed back as bonuses for farmers hence improving individual family incomes as well as save 13,416 hectares of trees cut to provide fuel for use in tea factories,” she said.

Industrial fans and blowers are electric machines that produce large amounts of hot or cold air as well as other gases pushed out of a building or directed via a production line in a factory. They are particularly useful in factories and kitchens.

Speaking during a three-day industrial symposium for public and private sector officials in Nairobi, the PS said, manufacturers who consumed more than half of the 1,650MW of energy produced in Kenya, had a major role to play in reducing pollution and deforestation.

READ: Tea companies say logging ban to hit production

Ms Maina called for a joint partnership by Japan and Kenya governments to enable the factories to acquire new energy efficient air blowers.

She said the Kenya National Cleaner Production Centre (KNCPC) was developing a Green Industry action plan that promotes adoption of new energy efficient processes in tea production that will see factories’ reliance on wood fuel or heavy diesel oil fall in favour of solar power for tea drying.

“Estimates from KNCPC show using solar energy for tea drying and withering process could save tea factories an extra Sh1.5 billion,” she said.

United Nations Industrial Development Organisation representative to Kenya Emmanuel Kalenzi said tea firms were the heaviest consumers of energy and biggest generators of carbon dioxide.

“The manufacturing sector’s role in mitigating climate change remains under-estimated. We must, therefore, engage manufacturers in the environmental protection campaign,” he said.