Western to wait longer for stable power

Homes and industries in western Kenya may have to wait longer for a stable supply of electricity after the completion date for the Olkaria-Lessos-Kisumu transmission line was pushed again.

After months of wayleave row with the Kedong Ranch management and owners of another parcel of land in Kisumu’s Mambo Leo, the Energy ministry now says the line may wait until September.

Energy Cabinet secretary Charles Keter said the wayleave wrangle at Kedong had been settled but the line will not be complete in July as earlier planned.

“The contractor is now on that five-kilometre gap at Kedong. The project will be complete in September. We were also slowed down by the Covid-19 related measures that limit movements as you know the contractors are both foreign. Most of the areas have been strung and we don’t expect any other hurdle now,” he said.

This is the fifth time the line, whose delay has starved the western Kenya of the adequate power supply from the cheaper geothermal power in Olkaria, has changed its completion deadline.

The Sh18.2 billion project under construction by the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) is said to have been stalled for months after the Naivasha-based ranch managers opposed the presented compensation.

This is one of the major wayleave challenges coming months after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the Land Value Amendment Act 2019 that provides for the assessment of the land value index for compulsory acquisition.

The law, which allows the National Land Commission to possess the land for government projects and compensate the legal owners within one year using the land value index, was expected to eliminate such hurdles blocking key projects like roads and power lines.

The 300-km Olkaria-Lessos-Kisumu line runs from Naivasha steam fields through Eldoret to Kisumu. It is expected to spur industrial growth in western Kenya as well as stabilise supply in the region now reliant on the diesel-run generator in Muhoroni and imports from Uganda.

The line was to be completed in February 2018, then it was pushed back by a year to early 2019 due to funding and wayleave hurdles. By May 2019, the project was said to have been 80 per cent complete as KETRACO changed its timeline to March 2020 and later to this month.

Homes and businesses in western Kenya and parts of Nyanza experience frequent power rationing due to reliance on the 65-megawatt kerosene powered generator in Muhoroni.

The plant, which sells power at Sh34 per unit, makes it one of the most expensive sources of power in the country, a key factor in eroding the gains brought about by cheaper electricity from wind and solar sources.

The Japanese-funded project (through JICA) comprising a 400, 220 and 132KV network has been the missing link between the region and the idle power in Olkaria.

“Reliable power supply to Western is expected to ignite activity, ensuring uninterrupted operations for factories, businesses and households.

“The expected overall impact of cheap geothermal supply to western Kenya is lower bills for consumers across the country since power tariffs on the national grid are harmonised regardless of location and energy source,” KETRACO managing director Fernandes Barasa said in an earlier statement.