Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir has revealed that the frequent nationwide power outages are due to a lack of investments in the electricity networks.
Addressing the media on Monday, December 11, Chirchir said the government has invested in connecting customers and building industries but has not built a power network in the last seven years.
“We have continued to connect customers on the last mile, we have continued to build industries and we have not built a network in the last six, seven years and there is much constrain in the transmission of electricity from where it is generated and sometimes the network drips when it is overloaded,” said Chirchir.
He noted that the blackout on Sunday night was caused by an overload in the Kisumu- Muhorono line.
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“When the line went down it was carrying 120 megawatts and suddenly there was a demand for an additional 20 megawatts in that line. For a line to be carrying 149 megawatts when it is designed for 80, it felt threatened and it tripped and cased down to the rest of the country,” the Energy CS explained.
Chirchir disclosed that the government will build a new substation between Narok and Bomet to relieve capacity on the Muhoroni - Kisumu line.
"We will build an alternative line to support the west of Kenya from Olkaria through Narok and Bomet to Awendo to be able to support the transmission, remove the constraints, and improve the capacity of carrying more megawatts to the western part of the country where we don’t have much generation,” he added.
The Energy CS further mentioned that the government has secured a loan from South Korea and the African Development Bank to build the facility.
