Kenya’s electricity imports shot up by 63.7 percent in the first eight months compared to a similar period last year despite official data showing the country generates more power than it consumes. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Kenya’s electricity imports shot up by 63.7 percent in the first
eight months compared to a similar period last year despite official
data showing the country generates more power than it consumes.
The Energy ministry attributes the sharp growth to a 50 percent tariff cut that Uganda offered Kenya from June.
Energy
Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter said the ministry opted for the cheaper
imports to supply the western parts of the country whose demand has
been on the rise. The region is also yet to be hooked onto the
geothermal power from Olkaria.
“The Muhoroni generator
which largely supplies the region is Sh35 per unit compared to Uganda’s
power which was Sh22 per unit before June and is now Sh14 per unit,” Mr
Keter said
“And by end of this month we’ll be buying
from Uganda at Sh10 and being a hydro power, it gives us a lot of
stability in the region even as demand continues to rise”.
Kenya bought 153.06 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity from
Uganda from January to August and an additional 2.48 GWh from Ethiopia,
according to the latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of
Statistics.
The total purchase represents a 64 percent rise compared to last year’s 94.98GWh over a similar period.
Western
region is periodically affected by lack of stable power supply from
baseload sources like hydro and geothermal due to lack of a transmission
line from Olkaria where Kenya generates half of its electricity.
The region relies on the 65 megawatt diesel generator in Muhoroni and imports from Uganda to serve homes and industries.
The
Kenya Electricity Transmission Company is expected to complete
300-kilometre line from the Olkaria-Lessos-Kisumu to evacuate the
geothermal power.
The move is expected to further
improve the cost and quality of power. Construction of more transmission
lines and substations is ongoing to evacuate the geothermal power to
other parts of the country like the coast where the Mariakani substation
is nearing completion.
The government has started
retiring expensive thermal sources of power for more affordable options
under the least cost power plan which is part of the wider strategy to
achieve universal power supply by 2022.
Preference for
geothermal is underpinned by the fact that it is a renewable energy
source, environmentally friendly and with relatively low generation
tariffs.
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