Construction of the Kenya-Ethiopia electricity highway is well underway with the facility expected to go live in April next year, Kenya Electricity Transmission Company’s managing director has said.
Fernandez Barraza said work is complete on the Ethiopian section – which is shorter – while Kenya’s segment is over 90 per cent ready and on course for completion early next year.
The 1,045-km Kenya-Ethiopia power line (433 km in Ethiopia and 612 km in Kenya) will enable Kenya to import cheaper electricity from hydroelectric projects in Ethiopia while setting stage for inter-regional trade in energy.
The 500 KV electricity highway, which runs from Wolayita Sodo in Ethiopia to Suswa in Kenya, will have power transportation capacity of 2,000MW in either direction. It will be the region’s first 500kV high-voltage direct current (HVDC) line.
“Currently, the 400kV Loiyangalani-Suswa 435km line built last year and connecting Turkana wind farm to the national grid holds the top spot in the region in terms of capacity, along with the 400kV Mombasa-Nairobi 428km line completed in 2017,” Mr. Barraza wrote in Business Daily on Tuesday.
“Equally, the Kenya-Ethiopia interconnector line, also known as the Eastern Electricity Highway, is Kenya’s first direct current (DC) line. All the other transmission and distribution lines in the country are alternating current (AC) wires.”
The Kenya-Ethiopia electricity highway project is being undertaken by a consortium of contractors comprising Germany-based Siemens for the converter station, KEC International of India, Larsen and Toubro of India and Kalpataru Power Transmission of India.
China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Company is overseeing the line construction.
The World Bank and African Development Bank (AfDB) are financing 80 per cent of the total cost of the project.
The Kenyan segment will be completed at a cost of Sh63.2 billion – with the entire project estimated to cost Sh126 billion.
In August 2016, it was reported that Kenya had signed an agreement to purchase 400MW of electricity from Ethiopia and that Nairobi was keen to raise the power imports when Addis Ababa completes several power projects currently under construction.
In the agreement, Kenya will buy 400 MW of hydropower from Addis Ababa at a fixed tariff of Sh7 per unit for domestic use.
Ethiopia, which currently exports electricity to Kenya, Djibouti and Sudan, is investing billions of shillings in building hydro-power plants as it seeks to become a major power exporter in the region with the potential of earning Sh100 billion annually from renewable energy.
The country has the capacity to produce 60,000MW of electricity.
Construction of the Kenya-Ethiopia electricity highway is well underway with the facility expected to go live in April next year, Kenya Electricity Transmission Company’s managing director has said.
Fernandez Barraza said work is complete on the Ethiopian section – which is shorter – while Kenya’s segment is over 90 per cent ready and on course for completion early next year.
The 1,045-km Kenya-Ethiopia power line (433 km in Ethiopia and 612 km in Kenya) will enable Kenya to import cheaper electricity from hydroelectric projects in Ethiopia while setting stage for inter-regional trade in energy.
The 500 KV electricity highway, which runs from Wolayita Sodo in Ethiopia to Suswa in Kenya, will have power transportation capacity of 2,000MW in either direction. It will be the region’s first 500kV high-voltage direct current (HVDC) line.
“Currently, the 400kV Loiyangalani-Suswa 435km line built last year and connecting Turkana wind farm to the national grid holds the top spot in the region in terms of capacity, along with the 400kV Mombasa-Nairobi 428km line completed in 2017,” Mr. Barraza wrote in Business Daily on Tuesday.
“Equally, the Kenya-Ethiopia interconnector line, also known as the Eastern Electricity Highway, is Kenya’s first direct current (DC) line. All the other transmission and distribution lines in the country are alternating current (AC) wires.”
The Kenya-Ethiopia electricity highway project is being undertaken by a consortium of contractors comprising Germany-based Siemens for the converter station, KEC International of India, Larsen and Toubro of India and Kalpataru Power Transmission of India.
China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Company is overseeing the line construction.
The World Bank and African Development Bank (AfDB) are financing 80 per cent of the total cost of the project.
The Kenyan segment will be completed at a cost of Sh63.2 billion – with the entire project estimated to cost Sh126 billion.
In August 2016, it was reported that Kenya had signed an agreement to purchase 400MW of electricity from Ethiopia and that Nairobi was keen to raise the power imports when Addis Ababa completes several power projects currently under construction.
In the agreement, Kenya will buy 400 MW of hydropower from Addis Ababa at a fixed tariff of Sh7 per unit for domestic use.
Ethiopia, which currently exports electricity to Kenya, Djibouti and Sudan, is investing billions of shillings in building hydro-power plants as it seeks to become a major power exporter in the region with the potential of earning Sh100 billion annually from renewable energy.
The country has the capacity to produce 60,000MW of electricity.
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