Kenya Electricity Transmission Company has transferred 80 Megawatts of power from Nairobi North substation to Kimuka station, in a move aimed at reducing the load pressure on Suswa-North lines.
The Kimuka energisation will assist in de-loading the existing 220kV Suswa-North lines and 220/66kV transformers at Nairobi North Substation.
KETRACO managing director John Mativo said the move to transfer the load will help reduce the risk of system instability and improve the security of evacuation of power from green sources (geothermal, wind and hydro imports) from Suswa to Nairobi.
“This project supports the Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda by increasing access to affordable power and improving of system efficiency and reliability for existing and proposed industrial and domestic loads in Magadi and Ngong, Karen and its environs hence improving social economic benefits of those areas,” said Mativo.
In the past six months, the country witnessed three blackouts which were majorly blamed on the overloading of the Suswa line.
The Kimuka substation line is part of the Nairobi Ring and associated substations project which once completed, will offer an alternative supply path for power into the Nairobi Metropolitan region.
The transfer will remove the load from the existing overloaded substations and prevent power interruption from affecting the whole country.
The scope of the project involves the construction of 103km 400kV double circuit line from Suswa substation to Isinya substation rated at 1200MW, two 220kV substations at Suswa and Isinya as well as 220/66kV substations at Kimuka, Athi River and Komarock.
The project has been financed by Agence française de développement (AFD), European Investment Bank (EIB), and the government of Kenya to the tune of Sh16.9 billion.
The Nairobi Ring Associated substations infrastructure project falls under the country’s Vision 2030 flagship projects within the energy sector.
The project which has a 1,700MW evacuating capacity is part of the system strengthening and capacity enhancement projects that will improve the transfer capacity of electrical energy and address the challenge of low voltages, high transmission losses, unreliability of supply, and network security.
In 2004, the capital city was connected to Olkaria geothermal power stations using a line from Olkaria through Nairobi North to Dandora.
Any interruption in power supply at the generation level or on the transmission infrastructure in or near Juja and Dandora substations resulted in a power outage in Nairobi and in some cases, a national power outage (affecting Uganda).
The Nairobi Ring and associated substations project will ensure that Nairobi is supplied power within a robust and redundant system.
The Suswa – Isinya transmission line will link the grid from the Coast to the rest of Kenya and neighboring countries of Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia, meaning it will ensure that the interconnector from Ethiopia – Kenya–Tanzania is firm and stable.
Konza Technopolis and electrified SGR will also benefit from power from multiple sources once the project is completed.
The project will additionally ensure that the geothermal generations at Olkaria, wind generation at Lake Turkana, Ngong Hills, Kipeto amongst others are reliably evacuated into the grid.