ERC pushes removal of costly Aggreko power from national grid to June
An Aggreko plant. The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has pushed to June unplugging from the national grid Aggreko’s expensive diesel-generated power following delays in setting up a replacement thermal plant. PHOTO | FILE
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The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has pushed to June unplugging from the national grid Aggreko’s expensive diesel-generated power following delays in setting up a replacement thermal plant.
KenGen blamed the delay on logistics hitches and heavy rains.
The imminent shutdown of Aggreko’s main plant, the closure of the Lamu generator, is likely to have an impact on power bills given all households and manufacturers share the burden of emergency power and diesel costs through the fuel cost charge.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has pushed to June unplugging from the national grid Aggreko’s expensive diesel-generated power following delays in setting up a replacement thermal plant.
This is after the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) missed the March deadline to move a 30-megawatt (MW) gas turbine to Muhoroni that was meant to displace Aggreko’s emergency power plant.
KenGen blamed the delay on logistics hitches and heavy rains.
ERC director-general Joe Ng’ang’a said the contract will be terminated next month.
Aggreko’s 30MW generator is located in Muhoroni, Kisumu.
“It will be out of the system in a fortnight. We’re all feeling the embarrassment of having temporary power,” Mr Ng’ang’a said Thursday.
Emergency power is priced as high as ¢50 per kilowatt-hour, which is more than double the cost of diesel-fired electricity set at ¢20 per kWh.
Hydropower, though susceptible to the vagaries of weather, is the cheapest at ¢3 per kWh followed by Mumias co-generation (¢6 per unit), geothermal (¢7 per kWh), Biojoule’s biogas (¢10 per unit), and Strathmore University’s solar power priced at ¢12 per unit.
KenGen, which has spent $4.3 million to move and install the 30MW thermal generator at Muhoroni, said there were delays in procuring testing equipment.
“By the end of the month I expect the unit will be generating subject to successful testing,” said KenGen managing director Albert Mugo in an interview.
Switching off the Muhoroni Aggreko emergency power plant means the British company will only be left with the 3.4 MW Garissa temporary generator.
“Unfortunately we do not comment or supply information regarding specific customer situations,” Aggreko said in an earlier interview.
Mr Mugo also disclosed that KenGen had stopped running its 2.8 MW thermal plant in Lamu, after the coastal county was finally connected to the national grid early this year.
The imminent shutdown of Aggreko’s main plant, the closure of the Lamu generator, is likely to have an impact on power bills given all households and manufacturers share the burden of emergency power and diesel costs through the fuel cost charge.
Low voltages
Kenyans consumed 3.17 million kWh of emergency power in February, down from 4.10 million units in January, according to official data.
The ERC reckons that Kenya no longer needs the expensive Aggreko power following injection of cheaper 280MW of steam power from Olkaria.
However, Western Kenya has been relying on Aggreko because the area suffers low voltages and is yet to be connected to the cheaper steam power from Olkaria.
The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company has delayed construction of the Olkaria - Lessos - Kisumu high-voltage line to connect to geothermal power.
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