Kenya Power seeks bids for repair of transformers

Kenya Power is seeking a contractor to repair 6,808 electricity transformers to help meet growing distribution demand. The utility firm said the successful contractor would be required to have a special plant to repair the equipment currently lying at one of its stock yards in Nairobi’s Roysambu area.

“KPLC requires the repairing plant to have a capacity of at least 3,000 distribution transformers per year. The contractor shall indicate their proposed annual repair capacity and submit an operational plan detailing how they intend to achieve the required repair capacity,” the firm said in a tender call, adding that bidders had until October 9 to make their submissions.

Demand for transformers has shot up in recent years as the government rolled out ambitious plans to connect additional remote areas to the national grid to spur growth.

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Sporadic cases of vandalism have also put pressure on Kenya Power to source for reliable repair services to offset the huge costs and lengthy periods required to bring in new transformers from suppliers in Europe and Asia. Kenya Power uses more than 2,000 transformers each year, statistics show.

Kenya also suffers regular power failure owing to insufficient electricity generation and a dilapidated transmission network
.In the past, copper windings and electricity cables were the main targets of vandals, but the focus has since shifted to transformer oil, after a ban on the export of scrap metal in 2008.

Kenya Power in 2011 it was considering to construct a transformer manufacturing plant in the country to match demand for the equipment.

This could become be the first transformer plant in the East Africa region and it would follow in the footsteps of Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria that have similar plants.