Inside Ketraco big cheap power deal to West Kenya – Weekly Citizen

Kenya Electricity Transmission Company has announced its new transmission line that will serve as the backbone for regional power interconnection among countries in the region. The Sh12.47 billion Olkaria-Lessos-Kisumu high voltage transmission line is expected to herald the birth of a new dawn in Western Kenya region where manufacturing, hospitality and domestic sectors have suffered serious fluctuations and unreliable electricity supply. The 290km transmission line, the first 400kV utility line ever to reach the region, will evacuate high voltage geothermal power from Olkaria geothermal station and re-enforce supply system from Eastern to Western parts of Kenya.

It entails the construction of 220kV transmission line between Olkaria and Lessos (213km) and from Lessos to Kisumu (77km) totaling to 290km. According to Ketraco MD Fernandes Barasa, the line is expected to transmit clean, renewable energy generated from Olkaria thereby enabling a stable distribution of electric power to Kenya’s Western region and allowing power interchange from/to Uganda. This project, if completed will see an increase to power supply reliability and capacity to meet the requirements of energy demand for social and economic development of the region and the entire country. The region is known for sugarcane farming/manufacturing, fishing industries and well established jua kali sector among other big time electricity users. Barasa noted that Kisumu International Airport is also one of the institutions set to benefit from stable electricity supply they so need to be able to keep afloat. The region also has quite a substantive stake in the hospitality industry with facilities strategically positioned in the Western Kenya tourism circuit.