The Country is to be segregated into four regions to tame power outages
The government intends to split the nation into four areas as a strategy to address the recurring power outages.
In the last few months, the nation has experienced unparalleled power failures that have halted essential functions, such as those at airports.
The outages have impacted negatively on the country’s economy.
During his appearance before the Energy Committee of the National Assembly on Wednesday, the Energy Cabinet Secretary affirmed that they possess immediate solutions to prevent the country from experiencing power outages in the coming times.
The ministry plans to participate in dividing or separating the transmission and generation networks into four regions. This aims to facilitate the distribution of power and prevent power surges.
The measures which will cost Sh463 million, will be rolled out within 90 days.
The first phase will comprise coastal counties followed by Mt Kenya (Seven Forks) and the Nairobi region, while the third component will be rolled out in Olkaria, Central Rift, and Nairobi.
As per the CS, the fourth area designated for the multi-million shilling intervention will include Western, North, and South Rift, along with Nyanza regions.
“This is expected to be complete by March 31, 2024. What we have set out to achieve in the short term is islanding to ensure that whenever power goes off in one region, the entire country is not affected,” Chirchir said.
The Chief Secretary (CS) informed the committee led by Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka that his department is currently working on improving the delivery of electricity from the Turkwel Hydro Power plant and providing alternative power sources for Kitale and Eldoret.
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He mentioned that the dispatch involves setting up and activating a transformer at the Kitale sub-station, a task slated for completion by February 28, 2024, with an expenditure of Sh250 million.
As per the CS, the ministry is giving importance to finishing the Kimuka substation to ease the load on the Nairobi North and Embakasi substations by around 100MW.
This completion will cost Sh213 million and will be ready by January 31, 2024.
“We have also agreed that there is a need to curb the voltage dips and frequent power fluctuations in the Coast region by for instance the Malindi solar power plant to help address voltage dips by mitigating intermittently,” Chirchir said.
“There is also the prioritized completion of Mariakani substation and Devki Steel Mills to address excess power pumped into the grid. We project to have completed this by February next year.”
As a step towards preventing the country from experiencing power outages, the Energy Petroleum and Regulatory Authority (EPRA) will conduct an audit within the next 90 days to confirm adherence to the grid code.
“So far, we have ensured optimal loading of transmission lines and equipment to avoid overloading with targeted load shedding in affected areas,” the CS added.
Other measures scheduled to manage the situation involve improving the workforce for grid management, ensuring full shifts at key stations, and providing additional training to system control and operational engineers.
The ministry has also embarked on improvement of the welfare and remuneration of critical staff.
The Country is to be segregated into four regions to tame power outages
