Keter said that the problem occurred between the Thika and Dandora power stations, leading to a sudden loss of 250 megawatts at a go, hence the blackout/MOSES MUOKI
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 10 – Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter has attributed Tuesday’s power failure that affected parts of Nairobi, Mount Kenya, Nyanza, Western, Rift Valley and Coast regions to a faulty geothermal power line.
Keter said that the problem occurred between the Thika and Dandora power stations, leading to a sudden loss of 250 megawatts at a go, hence the blackout.
“Our geothermal line from Olkaria to Nairobi had a problem. Losing up to 250 megawatts was too much, hence the partial blackout. I am very glad that by midnight, we had restored power to a majority of places,” Keter said.
The country suffered a similar problem in January last year with Kenya Power saying a monkey was to blame.
Keter explained that the current sub-stations and the power line from Olkaria to Nairobi are very old having been built in 1954, hence the occurrence of problems.
He however assured the country that Kenya Power engineers have been working to ensure a similar incident does not happen again.
“We are currently building the new lines from Olkaria, Suswa, Isinya all the way to Mombasa to ensure everything is up to date.” This line will be linked to through Athi River and the Embakasi sub-station to the Dandora sub-station.
According to the CS, the move will ensure Kenya gets more power that will also be cheaper and much more stable.
