End of darkness? Chirchir's plans to curb frequent power blackouts

Energy CS Davis Chirchir when he appeared before the National Assembly's Energy Committee at Parliament buildings following the recent countrywide blackout. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir has revealed plans to segment power supply into four regions as he bids to address the now frequent power blackouts.

The CS, who appeared before the National Assembly Energy Committee, said his ministry is taking some short-term measures that will cost the country a total Sh463 million, within 90 days, to mitigate the blackouts that have negatively impacted the economy and paralyzed hospitals.

Key among them, he submitted, is the segregation/islanding/unbundling of the transmission and generation networks to ensure an off-loading of power to avoid power surges. 

The first region will comprise coastal counties, second will comprise Mt Kenya, Eastern (7 forks) and Nairobi while the third region will be Olkaria, Suswa, Central Rift and Nairobi. The fourth region will be comprised of Western, North and south Rift and Nyanza.

“This is expected to be complete by March 31, 2024. What we have set out to achieve in the short term is islanding to ensure that whenever power goes off in one region, the entire country is not affected,” said ChirChir.

The Ministry is also in the process of enhancing dispatch of Turkwel Hydro Power plant and alternative supply to kitale and Eldoret by by installation and commissioning of a transformer at Kitale sub-station. The CS said be done by February 28 and will cost a total Sh250 million.

The Vincent Musyoka-led committee also heard that the ministry was prioritizing the completion of Kimuka sub-station to offload Nairobi North and Embakasi sub-stations by about 100MW cumulatively in an undertaking that would cost the taxpayer Sh213 million. This is expected to be completed by January 31.

“We have also agreed that there is need to curb the voltage dips and frequent power fluctuations in the Coast region by, for instance, the Malindi solar power plant to help address voltage dips by mitigating intermittently,” said the CS.

“There is also the prioritized completion of Mariakani sub-station and Devki Steel Mills to address excess power pumped into to the grid. We project to have completed on this by February next year.”

The Energy Petroleum and Regulatory Authority is expected to carry out an audit, within 90 days, to ensure compliance to the grid code.

“We have already ensured optimal loading of transmission lines and equipment to avoid overloading with targeted load shedding in affected areas,” said Chirchir.

Other measures to be implemented by the end of January include enhancement of human resources for grid management, deployment of full shifts at major stations, upskilling of system control and operational engineers, and improvement of the welfare and remuneration of staff.

Chirchir also plans on on-boarding power generation by Muhoroni Gas Turbine, on short-term basis, to offload the overloaded 132kV Kisumu-Muhoroni transmission line.

The House team however put the CS in a corner demanding to know the causes of the power outages witnessed on the night of 25 August, the national power outage that occurred on November 11, 2023, and the other on December 10, 2023.

“Investors want an assurance the Energy Ministry and Kenya Power and Lighting Company have taken measures to address the matter of frequent power outages so they don’t incur more losses. We also don’t want to see patients in hospitals lose their lives because of this,” Musyoka said.