Growth piles pressure on power supply

By Jackson Okoth

This is in line with an economy that is expected to grow its Gross Domestic Product at the rate of 10 per cent per year as projected in the Vision 2030 economic blue print.

"Peak demand by 2030 will be about 15,000 MW but we need a reserve margin of about 20 per cent. The actual installed capacity will be 18,000 MW," said Eddy Njoroge, Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) CEO.

The power generation firm plans to fill the 18,000 MW void through exploitation of geothermal, coal, wind and nuclear energy sources.

"We have done a lot of cost-effective analysis on all the available sources of supply and geothermal comes out at the top. Although it has high upfront costs, it is one of the cheapest options in the long run," said Njoroge.

KenGen plans to generate some 5,000 MW of electricity from geothermal sources, 4,000 MW from coal and between 2,000 to 3,000 MW from wind energy.

imports from ethiopia

We also looking at the possibility of importing some 2,000 MW from Ethiopia which is currently developing its hydro plants," said Njoroge.

An estimated 4,000 MW is also planned to be generated from nuclear power plants, to be developed between 2020 and 2025.

An elaborate plan to increase Kenya’s power generation capacity comes at a time when a large bulk of mostly urban poor and rural populations can’t access electricity and cannot afford the commodity.

The cost of electricity remains high due to Kenya’s dependability on hydro generation plants, a large bulk of this supply coming from the River Tana basin.

In times of drought, an estimated 50 per cent of supply lost, making it necessary for the country to resort to more expensive thermal power.

costly power

"We have been using thermal power which is more expensive due to high fuel prices and that is why electricity remains costly," said Njoroge.

The biggest component on electricity bills for domestic consumers is the fuel cost adjustment. It is expected that consumers will begin to pay less for electricity by February 2014. This is when the 280 MW of geothermal power generated from Olkaria, will be connected to the national grid.

At present, an estimated 25 per cent of the overall power supplies or 340 MW is from thermal diesel generators while 60 per cent is hydro.

Kenya has shifted its focus to geothermal power generation following years of neglect. While exploration on geothermal begun in 1956, drilling in the 1970s and the first 45 MW power station put up in between 1981 and 1985, only 200 MW has been added to the national grid.

The Geothermal Development Corporation was formed to accelerate geothermal production by undertaking upfront risks such as exploration, drilling and steam conversion in all the identified sites. Since 2005, KenGen has been receiving budgetary allocations for drilling activities within Olkaria area where it has geothermal rights.

The other 14 sites where geothermal power exists mainly in the Rift Valley, from Magadi, Lake Bogoria to Menengai.