•This is in the wake of frequent power outages with the most recent being yesterday, where most parts of the country were left without power.
•MPs halted the signing of new PPAs by Kenya Power to allow investigations into concerns that they were behind high power bills.
Image: FILE
The Energy and Petroleum ministry is pursuing MPs to lift the moratorium on Power Purchase Agreements, CS Opiyo Wandayi now says, as part of initiatives to stabilise electricity supply in the country.
This is in the wake of frequent power outages with the most recent being yesterday, where most parts of the country were left without power.
According to the Ministry, the morning outage was a result of the 220kV High Voltage Loiyangalani transmission line tripping at Suswa substation while evacuating 288MW from Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) plant.
This was followed by a trip on the Ethiopia–Kenya 500kV DC interconnector that was at the time carrying 200MW, resulting to a total loss of 488MW.
The total demand in the system at the time was 1790 MW, CS Wandayi said in a statement.
“The loss of 488MW, accounting for 27.3 per cent of the total generation, resulted in cascade failure and partial collapse of the grid. This affected most regions of the country except parts of Western Kenya, which was supported by supply through the interconnector to Tororo, Uganda,” the CS said.
Supply had however normalised to parts of North Rift, Central Rift, Nairobi and Mount Kenya regions as at at 11.30.
The ministry is banking on the lifting of the moratorium on Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) by Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to help improve supply.
MPs earlier this year halted the signing of new PPAs by Kenya Power to allow investigations into concerns that they were behind high power bills experienced by consumers in the country, owing to expensive supplies to the utility firm.
The last IPP Kenya Power signed was in the year 2020.
Currently, Kenya Power has about 20 IPPs in its books cutting across the entire energy mix of wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and thermal, with most contracts expiring around 2034.
They are responsible for about 10 per cent of installed capacity.
In June this year, Kenya Power managing director Joseph Siror said the country needs more IPPs to meet electricity demand projected to increase in the medium to long-term,
This is on the back of growing peak demand that has gone up to 2,177MW and an upward of 2,200MW in some instances.
The country has an installed capacity of 3,311MW of which 3, 155 is effective but generation from some sources such as wind and solar have traditionally fallen depending on weather conditions and night factor (for solar), affecting overall injection to the grid.
The bulk of power come from KenGen and is mainly geothermal.
Wandayi yesterday said implementation of base load (hydro, geothermal) generation projects to improve energy security and provide adequate spinning reserves are ongoing.
There are also a number of projects in place to enhance grid flexibility and resilience.
They include the Turkwell-Ortum-Kitale (Turkwell – Ortum section is already energised), Sondu- Ndhiwa, Nanyuki-Isiolo, Narok – Bomet, Mariakani substation and repair of Loiyangalani – Suswa Transmission line for double circuit operation and migration from 220kV to 400kV operation, among others.
There is also construction of alternative evacuation lines namely Gilgil-Thika-Malaa-Konza 400kV to complete the Nairobi Ring to decongest Suswa Complex, Rongai- Keringet-Chemosit to decongest Kisumu-Muhoroni-Chemosit and Menengai- Olkalao-Rumuruti to provide access to Mount Kenya region to geothermal power.
“As a ministry, we are committed to implementing these interventions to ensure security of supply and more reliable quality of service to Kenyans,” Wandayi said.