Kenya moves closer to power supply deal with Ethiopia

Converting stations

Kenya and Ethiopian governments are expected to meet the project financier, the World Bank, early next year for a $380 million grant to be spent on construction of a transmission that will interconnect the two national power grids and facilitate the power export plan.

In a joint funding proposal presented to the World Bank, Kenya and Ethiopia have indicated that the project involves the construction of a 1200 km power line with the capacity of transmitting 500 kilovolts between Sodo sub-station (Ethiopia) to metropolitan Nairobi.

It will also include construction of two converting stations to transport 2,000 MW from Southern Ethiopia to the Eastern Africa Power Pool that could see Ethiopia export electricity to as far as South Africa where an acute power shortage has persisted since 2007.

Kenya has been inching closer to a power deficit in the past three years forcing the country to rely on expensive thermal power generators to meet its short term needs as it develops additional sources.

Failure by the October-December rains to replenish the hydro power dams has left consumers with the reality of paying inflated bills till the onset of long rains early next year.

Last week, KPLC warned consumers that they will this month pay a record Sh7.90 for a unit of power to finance the running of diesel powered plants across the country.

Dr Eric Aligula, an energy expert, says interconnection is the least cost solution for power supply while hydro is the cheapest source of electric power.

Geothermal is the most renewable form of energy.

According to the Bank’s economists, Kenya is among African countries where the hydro electric generation is least exploited.

Ms Vivien Foster, an economist with the bank, notes that power trade between countries with surplus power to those with deficits can help to reduce current high power costs across the continent.

Apart from Ethiopia, other potential exporters with cheap hydro sources include DRC and Guinea.

“The Congo River has vast hydro potential enough to meet requirements for all the East and central African economies,” said Dr Aligula.

The low quality supply of electricity supply throughout the country is largely due to neglect and stagnation in upgrade and expansion of the transmission grid.

Still, the ageing KPLC electricity distribution infrastructure has been cited among the factors that are hurting the country’s electricity security through high system losses or power leakages.