Kenya officially signed a contract with Ethiopia on Tuesday for the purchase of inexpensive hydroelectric electricity, even as the country nears completion of a transmission line to evacuate power from its northern neighbor.
Over the past year, the two countries have been ironing out the terms of the power purchase agreement (PPA), with its official signing this week offering renewed hope for cheaper electricity costs once the line is constructed and electrified.
Kenya is planned to buy 200 megawatts (MW) from Ethiopia in the first phase of the multi-phased project, which would then be scaled up to 400MW in the second phase.
A senior source at Kenya Power yesterday revealed that the PPA was signed by the company’s acting Chief Executive Geoffrey Muli and his Ethiopian counterpart from the Ethiopian Electric power (EEP) in Naivasha in the presence of senior officials from both countries.
President Uhuru Kenyatta was making a tour of Nakuru County where he commissioned five projects including the 172MW Olkaria 5 and 86 megawatts Olkaria 1 Additional Unit (AU) 6 geothermal power plants in Naivasha.
The other projects he commissioned during his visit includes the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) – Metre Gauge Rail (MGR) passenger rail link at the Mai-Mahiu Station that links the SGR and the MGR, the Naivasha Inland Container Depot (ICD) and the Suswa water project that will serve the Naivasha industrial park.
“The energy we are generating is not only to power this industrial park but it is also for powering other industries across our nation, our cities, our towns and our homes,” President Kenyatta said.
The Head of State was accompanied by Ethiopian Energy Minister Dr Eyob Tolina, Energy Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma, Transport CS James Macharia, and Turkish Industry Holdings President Mehmet Coşkun.
