Project Management Dynamics and Performance of Kenya Electricity Generating Company Projects

Abstract

Kenya continues to face challenges regarding the actualization and timely implementation of electricity generation projects aimed at increasing the electricity capacity required in the quest for attaining industrialization status by the year 2030. Out of the projected flagship electricity generation projects, less than 20 percent of the projects had been translated into the national grid by the end of the year 2022. Such trends call for an in-depth study of project dynamics that determine the performance of electricity generation projects. To research the problem, the focus was given to Kenya Electricity Generation Company (KenGen) Plc, which is a state-owned electricity generation company accounting for 60 percent of the electricity generation market share in Kenya. The purpose of the study was to determine the project management dynamics that determine the performance of electricity generation projects. Specifically, the study sought to evaluate the influence of project financing, project procurement, organization dynamics, individual dynamics and stakeholder management dynamics on the performance of electricity generation projects in KenGen. The study was anchored on system theory, constraints theory, and competence theory of project management. The earmarked population was 10 electricity generation projects implemented by sixty-eight employees who had formal project management appointments in the power plant construction projects that ranged from hydroelectric, geothermal, thermal and wind generation modes. A census survey method was used, targeting the sixty-eight respondents. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the variables. The study established that all the independent variables had positive regression coefficients, indicating that a unit rise for each independent variable facilitated a consequent rise in the dependent variable. However, only finance dynamics revealed a statistically significant effect, indicating that project finance dynamics had a significant effect on the performance of electricity generation projects. The study recommended that priority should be given to finance dynamics while scoping the electricity projects above other project dynamics. Financial analysis of the project financier's capacity to ensure uninterrupted project milestones financing was identified as an aspect requiring consideration in project financing. This outcome will be helpful to stakeholders in the energy sector, academicians and electricity project financiers. Suggestions were made for further studies on other financial dynamics not accounted for in the study and non-financial dynamics that were not established to have a significant effect on generation projects