Kenya Power has partnered with the National Youth Service (NYS) to fast-track the Facilities Database (FDB) digital platform data clean-up.
This facilitates the digitisation of its electricity network, and provides a framework for the grid automation.
The Facilities Data Base digital platform is a Geographical Information System (GIS) application, through which the company captures analyses, manages and stores its transmission and distribution facilities data.
The countrywide exercise, which has been funded by the World Bank under the Kenya Electricity Management Programme (KEMP) at a cost of Ksh225 million, will be covered by 770 NYS officers, 700 servicemen and women, and 70 supervisors. It kicks off on of July 19.
“ The objective of this exercise is to create visibility of the network on the FDB digital platform for efficient and effective service delivery,” Kenya Power managing director and CEO Bernard Ngugi said.
The Company has so far digitised 70 per cent of its network comprising 83 transmission substations, 295 primary substations, 73,486 secondary substations (transformers)and 77,990.69Kms of high and medium voltage lines.
The NYS partnership will cover the remaining 30 per cent which will include the digitisation of 166,623.84Kms of low voltage lines, and over 8.2 million customer meters.
Customer meters will also be linked to their respective transformers to reflect their current physical locations.
“Updating the company’s data on the Facilities Database Digital platform will provide us with an accurate inventory of all our physical assets in order to enhance our technical and operational efficiency,” Ngugi said on Friday.
The data clean-up project will enable Kenya Power to conduct precise energy measurement which will in turn aid the business in identifying losses’ hotspots to facilitate effective remedial action.
The digitisation exercise will also assist the company to identify overloaded, under-utilised, and imbalanced transformers to enable us take corrective action.
With the clear mapping of customer meters, the company will also be able to improve on billing as well as revenue collection.
Additionally, digitising the network will have a positive impact on the design stage of the connectivity process, the firm says, since designers will no longer have to make field visits, making the process faster and more efficient.
The Kenya Power and Lighting Company PLC (Kenya Power) owns and operates most of the electricity transmission and distribution system in the country.
It sold electricity to over 8.2 million customers as at the end of May 2021.