Kenya unveils plans for Sh5.3bn power lines to Tanzania

Kenya on Tuesday made clear its intention to sell excess electricity to Tanzania when it launched the construction of a Sh5.3 billion power transmission line to link the two countries.

Kenyan officials said the construction of the 93-kilometre line will start in January and end in December 2017, coinciding with the planned generation of additional 5,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the grid.

The line will facilitate power exchange at very competitive rates,” Energy Principal Secretary Joseph Njoroge said Tuesday at the project launch in Nairobi.

Kenya has been racing against time to meet the grand power production target by 2017. Last year, it added 280MW of geothermal energy to the grid which helped raise its installed capacity to 2,298MW.

READ: Kenya ranked eighth largest global geothermal producer

The country is constructing several geothermal and wind plants and plans its first 981.5MW coal plant by 2017 and a nuclear reactor by 2023 – raising concerns that energy supply would outstrip the country’s demand.

Kenya’s increased generation saw Kenya Power last week announce it will start selling 30MW of electricity to Rwanda in the next three months.

The country has bagged a Sh5.3 billion ($50 million) syndicated loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) to finance the project.

The Kenyan government will raise Sh753 million ($7.16 million) to compensate owners of land to be displaced on the 93-km stretch. The 400-kilovolt (kV) will be implemented by the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco).

“We are in the process of recruiting consultants to prepare bid documents for contractors. The procurement process should take three months,” said Ketraco acting managing director Fenardes Barasa.