NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 6 – The power outage reported across the country was due to an interruption on the 220 kilovolt (kV) Loiyangalani transmission line.
Energy Cabinet Secretary (CS) Opiyo Wandayi said that the morning (8:56am) incident occurred at Suswa substation, resulting in a power loss of 288 megawatts (MW) from the Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) plant.
Later, a trip on the Ethiopia-Kenya 500kV DC interconnector that was carrying 200MW pushed the total loss to 488MW. The total demand in the system at the time was 1,790MW.
“The loss of 488MW, accounting for 27.3% of the total generation, resulted in cascade failure and partial collapse of the grid,” Wandayi said.
“This affected most regions of the country except parts of Western Kenya, which was supported by supply through the interconnector to Tororo, Uganda.”
Already, 70 percent of the country’s power supply has been restored, the CS said, with efforts ongoing to reach the 100 percent target.
Major towns and cities whose electricity has been reconected include Nyeri, Embu, Kirinyaga, Nanyuki, Nakuru, Naivasha, Thika, Eldoret, Kericho, Kakamega, Siaya, Busia, Vihiga, Kisumu, Bungoma, and Webuye.
“What we are witnessing today has built-up over time and is as a result of sub optimal investment in energy infrastructure. The sector is looking into short-term and long-term interventions to address this challenge including bringing onboard private sector capital to supplement Government efforts.”
To address the persistent blackouts, the Ministry has announced a raft of measures to prevent such future incidences.
One of them is the construction of alternative evacuation lines such as the Gilgil-Thika-Malaa-Konza 400kV to decongest Rongai-Keringet-Chemosit as well as the Kisumu-Muhoroni-Chemosit line.
“Implementation of base load (hydro, geothermal) generation projects to improve energy security and provide adequate spinning reserves. During the last peak demand of 2239 MW recorded on 21st August 2024, 6MW was loadshed from the grid while the reserve margin was only 9MW against system requirement of 310 MW,” the CS added.
