Kenya Power has announced that several areas within Nairobi County will experience scheduled power interruptions on Friday, November 14, as part of ongoing maintenance works.
In a notice on Thursday, November 13, the company said the planned maintenance will take place in parts of Karen and Langata between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
According to the utility firm, the affected areas will include Bomas of Kenya, CITAM and Nyumba Moja Road.
Forest Edge Gardens, Muiri Road, Langata Substation, and all adjacent customers will also be affected.
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Elsewhere, the government has clarified the country’s power situation following President William Ruto’s remarks that Kenya has been forced to carry out load shedding in some areas between 5pm and 10pm.
Speaking on Tuesday, November 11, Kenya Power Managing Director and CEO Joseph Siror acknowledged that while Kenya occasionally experiences power constraints, the country’s overall electricity generation remains sufficient to meet demand.
"Yes, it is true that once in a while because of breakdowns and because of the intermittent nature of solar or wind we can have a slight constraint. But over and above, we do have adequate power within the country but the reserves are normally very thin," he said.
Siror further explained that power supply during the day is generally stable, with challenges only arising during evening peak hours when demand surges.
"In terms of attracting the investors, it is very good for me to state that during the day we have adequate generation and it's only that window between 6pm to 10pm which we are addressing and I think the PS has addressed that, but again after 10pm we have too much power available," he added.
On his part, Energy Principal Secretary Alex Wachira admitted that Kenya currently lacks a backup power generation that can be instantly deployed to stabilize the grid when renewable output dips.
"We don’t have a spinning reserve, what is a spinning reserve? Spinning reserve is, in case we have a plant that is put in case today Lake Turkana has low output, we do not have a plant that can be able to inject instantly, to ensure that we do not load shed.
"So we survive very well on days when we have good wind output, but on days when we have bad wind output in the country we do not have enough firm capacity that can power our peak power demand," he explained.
