Kenya to connect to Southern Africa Power Pool by 2015

(Xinhua) — Plans to connect Kenya to the Southern Africa Power pool (SAPP) by January 2015 are underway, a government official said on Wednesday.

The Permanent Secretary in The Ministry of Energy Patrick Nyoike told journalists in Nairobi that the government is currently in the process of raising funds in order to begin the construction of the transmission line that will link Kenya to Tanzania’s national grid which is part of the SAPP.

“The construction of a 100 kilometer 400KV transmission double circuit line at a cost 54 million U.S. dollars will be completed by January 2015,” Nyoike said during the Konza Technology City Investors conference.

The 3-day conference brought over 100 international and foreign investors to discuss opportunities in the 5000 acre proposed city.

Nyoike said that by connecting to the pool, Kenya will tap into vast energy resources of its southern neighbors. SAPP is works under the 15 member states of the Southern African Development Community.

“However the transmission line is one of the power projects of the East African Community which aims at promoting regional trade in electricity,” the government official said.

“Currently our demand for electricity is outstripping supply so the move will allow us to bridge power deficits,” he said.

Kenya’s electric power generation, largely dominated by water- powered turbines, is gradually seeking to shift the more dependable geothermal and wind powered plants due to the effects of climate change, which has sparked off ecological damage.

The country’s seven folks scheme, a combination of dams drawing its waters from forests and deep dams has witnessed the dwindling of water supplies due to the cutting down of trees and poor rainfall, sparked by unpredictable weather patterns.

Last month, Kenya commissioned 1.3 billion dollar project for the development of 280 megawatts of geothermal power in Ol-karia, Naivasha about 100km northwest of Nairobi, is being funded by a consortium of foreign companies.

The project which is the largest ever in the history of Kenya, will inject a further 25 percent of current capacity into the national grid once completed in mid 2014. It will provide 2100 Gigawatt hours per year.

Nyoike noted that under the Eastern Africa Power Connector Project Kenya will be connected to Ethiopia’s power grid by December 2017.

“Kenya will construct a 612 km transmission line at a cost of 753 million dollars with funding from the World Bank and French Development Agency (AFD),” he said.

According to Kenya’s government, the initial agreement is for Ethiopia to sell to Kenya 400 MW but the figure could rise depending on Ethiopia’s electricity production.

“Ethiopia has embarked on aggressive energy expansion programme and we hope to tap its cheap electricity in order to reduce the cost of energy in Kenya,” he said. According to the ministry of energy, the construction of 3 power plants will be commissioned in December.

“Private investors will build these three power plants that will add a total energy output of 252 MW to the national grid,” he said.

Energy experts have estimated that the Rift Valley has a potential of over 7000MW of geothermal power.

Nyoike said that last month the government commissioned the construction of 280 MW geothermal plants and next month the government will float tender documents for the construction of another 140MW power generation plant in the same vicinity.

The PS said that currently Kenya has an effective installed capacity of 1500MW and has very little reserve margin.He noted that developed countries have a power generation reserve margin of 15 percent in order to ensure reliable supply of electricity.

“The National Economic and Social Council has therefore mandated the government to maintain at least 30 percent of electricity reserve margin,” he said.

According to Kenya’s economic blueprint, Vision 2030, the country hopes to reach electricity penetration of 35 percent of the entire population by 2018 up from the current 30 percent.

They say the country’s rural electricity programme is also causing demand to increase and has line up a number of projects to meet growing electricity needs the government has a number of projects in the pipeline. (Xinhua)