Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir says there could be more power outages in future due to challenges facing Kenya Power and Lighting Company.
Speaking a day after the nation experienced a countrywide blackout for hours on Sunday, Chirchir said that the utility firm has been facing challenges on its transmission lines, due to a lack of maintenance.
“The question we are asking is why so frequently? It is a challenge that as a country we are really ashamed of and we need to address it. We know where the problem is and we are addressing it. It is bound to happen again but we will do serious maintenance. The gist of it is lack of investment on the network for a long time,” he said.
“We have continued to connect customers on the last mile, and we’ve continued to build industry but we’ve not built the network in the last five, six, seven years and there is so much constrain in the transmission of electrons from wherever they are generated and sometimes the network drips when it is overloaded.”
Chirchir explains Sunday blackout
Chirchir says Sunday’s power outage was caused by an overload between Kisumu and Muhoroni due to a hiked demand.
He says the Kisumu-Muhoroni line is designed to carry 80 megawatts, but at the time there was a power outage the line was carrying 149 megawatts of power.
At the time of the blackout, Chirchir says the system demand was 1,732 megawatts with all supplies at their optimum.
“The power restoration process started immediately, and by 1 am 60 per cent of the customers (had their power) restored. The Kenyan electricity grid is operating sub-optimally with limited spinning reserves, low inertia, high proportion of intermittent generation, low Hydro generation and insufficient voltage control. These conditions make the system vulnerable to system disturbances,” Chirchir said.
He says the government is building an alternative line to supply the Western part of the country through a loan facility which has already been signed between Kenya and South Korea and the African Development Bank.
“We are building an alternative line to support Western Kenya through Ol Karia, Narok, Bomet to Awendo to support the transmission that goes through Lessos.”
He says the construction of the line, which is currently at the tendering stage, could take at least 20 months to complete.
The government is also building a new sub-station in Sondu and a new line to supply South Nyanza.
He said the government is also increasing the capacities of several sub-stations including Kimuka, Lessos and Malaa.
The government is also fast-tracking the implementation of a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) that will help to address the intermittency of the VERs and provide voltage stability.
