Kenyan Government to conduct survey on country’s power needs

The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum is undertaking a study to determine the country's energy demands.

The study will be carried out from next week by KenGen, Kenya Power and the Energy and Regulation Commission.

Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir said the study was meant to establish the country's power needs against the current supply. "Power cannot be stored and we do not want a situation where we are producing energy that is going to waste," he said.

He noted that with the cost of power going down, the Government expects the number of new industries to increase.

Chirchir said currently power supply in the country stood at 2,000mw and is expected to rise to 2,300mw in December against a demand of 1,500mw.

woo investors

He said the Government was committed to bringing down the cost of power as a way of wooing more investors.

The CS noted the cost of power dropped by 20 per cent between July and August this year, adding that it is expected to drop further by December.

He attributed this to a 60 per cent drop in the cost of steam energy, but admitted that the cost of diesel power was still high.

"Between July and August, the fuel charges dropped from 7.22 US cents to 4.79 US cents and we expect them to drop to three US cents by end of the year," he said.

The CS was addressing the press in Olkaria Naivasha during a tour of the Olkaria IV power plant which will be commissioned by the President on Friday this week.

He noted that 210mw had already been pumped into the national grid from Olkaria I and IV power plants ahead of the official commissioning.

The CS said plans were underway to stop using diesel in power generation. "We expect an additional 70mw by next month which will help reduce the usage of diesel power," he said.