Kenya’s old power transmission line still at risk from pesky monkeys

The country’s old electricity transmission lines are grossly inefficient and even the slightest interference from pesky monkeys can lead to prolonged power outages.

According to officials at the ministry of Energy, almost all of the country’s power is fed by one old and inefficient power line from Suswa substation in Kajiado County.

This inefficient 220 kilovolt (kV) line serves more than 60 per cent of the county’s power needs. It is likely to trip at the slightest touch of a stray animal or contact with a foreign object leaving the country in darkness.

And this is likely to continue until November 2016 when Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) is expected to complete the construction of a new line from Suswa substation to Isinya and eventually Embakasi. Perennial power outages haves been a uniquely Kenyan story, thanks to an old and poorly maintained electric facilities.

Sometimes when there is excess power, an opening is created thus breaking the flow of power to consumers. In an ideal situation, this power would be rerouted to another line ensuring constant supply of power to consumers.

However, the country does not have this alternative power line, leaving Kenyans exposed to repeated power outages. This year alone, there have been three countrywide power outages—one in January, the other in June and recently on August 6 when Kenyans were left groping in the dark for about six hours.

In June, Kenya made headlines around the world when officials from power generating firm KenGen said that a five-hour power outage resulted from a trip on a transformer at Gitaru hydroelectric power station after a monkey fell on it. The comical explanation given by KenGen made some people to literally describe the turn of events as ‘monkey business.’

“A monkey climbed on the roof of Gitaru Power Station and dropped onto a transformer tripping it. This caused other machines at the power station to trip on overload, resulting in a loss of more than 180 MW from this plant which triggered a national power blackout,” KenGen said in a statement then. But for many businesses and homes that have had to endure uncountable losses as a result of these perennial power outages, there is nothing funny about this.

Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) says industries consume 60 per cent of all energy generated in this country, thus are the main victims of power outages. These outages have also seen Kenyans pour out vitriol at power distributor Kenya Power. Through their elected representatives, there have been proposals for the power utility company to compensate consumers for the losses they incur as a result of blackouts.

AMBIGUOUS

The Bill proposing this in the National Assembly has been opposed vehemently by the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Mr Charles Keter. Keter said that the Bill was ‘ambiguous’ as it did not differentiate what would constitute Kenya Power’s fault from that which was not. Stung by the negative criticism and international ridicule that poured out of the local and international media, a contingent of senior officials in the country’s energy sector moved to demonstrate that they were in control.

The country had since moved from being energy-deficient into being an energy surplus, according to the Principal Secretary in the Energy Ministry Joseph Njoroge. The only piece of the puzzle that was yet to fall in place is the efficient transmission of power from the point of production to one of consumption. According to energy officials, this was the only reason why Kenyans continue to suffer blackouts.

Currently, almost the entire city of Nairobi gets its power from very old 220kv lines that take geothermal power from Olkaria, says Keter. However, by November there should be another 400kv line from Suswa, Isinya and Embakasi. This line will be extended to Mombasa in December. These two lines are 85 per cent done.

When the new line is complete, authorities will be able to evacuate geothermal power from Olkaria to Mombasa and wean off the country from expensive diesel energy, said Keter. Mombasa is normally hit the most by power outages. The line from Isinya to Mombasa should have been completed three years ago but stopped as a result of a dispute over compensation of those residing beneath wayleaves.

“Residents of Kajiado wanted to be compensated 100 per cent as was being done by the standard gauge railway. However, Ketraco could only compensate them up to 30 per cent as they were not acquiring the whole land,” said Keter. “When the compensation element is bigger than the cost of the project, the financiers of the project calculate and say the project is not viable.”

The project is being funded by African Development Bank. The new line will to carry 1500MW, unlike the old one which cannot carry more than 500MW. Geothermal power alone amounts to 600MW.

The government’s target is to bring the cost electricity to below 10 US cents.