l Kenya is embracing emerging "green energy" technologies, not so much to cut hydrocarbon consumption as to end its dependence on hydroelectricity, the most mature renewable power source. The east African country's reliance on hydropower has paradoxically led to power cuts during rainstorms, due to local overloading of its underdeveloped electricity grid. "To adress those challenges, we are turning to green energy. Kenya cannot depend on hydro because of our climatic hydrology conditions," Geoffrey Mwau, the economic secretary at Kenya's ministry of finance, . He said Kenya was establishing an open-ended green energy fund to support the development of wind, solar, geothermal and other renewable energy projects in a country with great potential for such developments. The government was expected to commit about US$26.52 million (Dh97.33m) to the fund, representing about 10 per cent of its expected capital. Neighbouring Uganda, which relies on a for nearly all of its inadequate electricity supply, is joining the quest for a broader fuel mix. This week, Uganda's biggest sugar producer, , proposed a . It said it was considering more than doubling its existing power output from burning bagasses, or cane fibre, to 45 megawatts from 22mw, which would allow it to supply about 30mw to the national grid. That is equivalent to the power draw of about 300,000 average homes in a developed country such as the US. It may not sound like much, but Uganda has only 300mw of , supplying electricity to less than five per cent of its population. Kakira is also developing a biofuel refinery with the capacity to produce 60,000 litres of ethanol from its 20 million litres of annual molasses production. The plant would reduce Uganda's petrol imports by 8 per cent, the company estimated. Last May, Uganda's energy ministry told oil refiners to prepare to blend petroleum fuels with 20 per cent biofuel. The country imports all its petroleum requirements because its does not yet have any domestic oil production. Commercial oil reserves were in Uganda, but will take several years to develop. In Kenya, the national utility, , sought bids in January for the construction of a , after winning a €20m (Dh100.25m) loan from the Spanish government to help finance the project. Last month, the utility announced a to develop 280mw of geothermal power with anticipated backing from the World Bank. That would double the country's existing geothermal capacity. The ambitious project would boost long-term plans to tap the world-class geothermal potential of Kenya's Rift Valley.