Cabinet Acts Swiftly on Nationwide Blackout
Cabinet of President William Ruto has decided to review the national grid to prevent nationwide blackouts identical to the weekend’s.
In a Cabinet dispatch published on Tuesday, August 29, it was noted that the country’s highest decision-making body was concerned about the power outage that began on Friday, August 25, and lasted for more than 12 hours.
The Cabinet of Ruto lamented the occurrence, recognizing that the blackout disrupted operations in sections of the nation.
As the Cabinet endeavors to identify the causes of the Friday-Saturday power outage, some distribution system challenges will be addressed in the review.
“The Cabinet lamented the complete electrical grid failure that caused a nationwide blackout last Saturday. Cabinet consequently ordered a review of the country’s power distribution infrastructure to ensure that such a misfortune does not occur again,” the dispatch stated in part.
By the directive, the evaluation will include an examination of the power supplied from substations to systems connecting consumers, including poles and transformers.
Notably, the power outage has been attributed to a system error at the Lake Turkana Wind Power facility, which led to an imbalance in the nation’s power system.
Ministry of Energy statement: “System demand at the time of the blackout was 1855.8 MW; therefore, a loss of approximately 15% of generation was expected to cause a widespread power outage.”
However, the power facility refuted the allegations, stating that all of their systems were functioning properly when the blackout began last Friday at 5:00 p.m.
ALSO READ: KPLC & Lake Turkana Wind Power Clash: Blackout Blame Game
“Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) asserts that it is not responsible for the current blackout. LTWP was forced offline and production ceased due to an overvoltage situation in the national grid system, which, to prevent severe damage, caused the wind power plant to autonomously shut down.
“Preliminary reports and analysis conducted by the relevant independent industry stakeholders support the conclusion that grid system overvoltage caused this problem,” the statement reads in part.
In the meantime, Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and Kenya Power CEO Joseph Siror have been summoned to Parliament on Thursday, August 31, even as some leaders demand administrative action against those culpable for the blackout.
Other leaders, including Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, are pressing for Kenyans to be compensated for the power outage that caused millions of dollars in business losses and food to perish in homes.
Key infrastructure such as the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) also experienced a nearly two-hour-long disruption in operations. This was attributable to a faulty reserve generator.
In related news, the Energy Committee of the National Assembly allegedly wants Kenyans to purchase tokens directly from independent power producers or Kenya Power, rather than just Kenya Power.
The proposal is reportedly contained in a draft report being compiled by the MPs, but it has not yet been submitted to Parliament for review or made available for public comment.
Cabinet Acts Swiftly on Nationwide Blackout
