NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 20 – The Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) has said that the completion of the Narok-Bomet cable line will address the country’s incessant power outages that disrupt economic activities.
KPLC Managing Director and CEO Joseph Siror affirmed that the powerline, which will be completed in 11 months, will help offload the Muhoroni-Chemosit and Kisumu-Muhoroni lines that have been experiencing overload in recent months.
The utility company also pointed out that the termination of Olkaria-Lessos Kibos line 2 at Lessos will support voltage stabilization to deal with the outages.
Siror revealed that the overload has proven to cause failure of the power systems, resulting in a national-wide outage attributed to the high demand for power during peak hours in Western Kenya.
“We want to terminate one of the circuits that come from Olkaria because power serves best when the distance is the shortest, if we are able to supply power using the shortest links then we are guaranteed of better quality and less system losses,” said Siror.
He noted that the Narok-Bomet line will be an alternative path for power supply in parts of South Nyanza and the South Rift, which heavily depend on the busy Kisumu-Muhoroni major line.
“The public should know that there were projects which were meant to have been completed 5 years ago but due to challenges by the contractors some of them were never completed,” the MD stated.
“The power outage challenge is what is manifesting now when the power demand has gone so high.”
Kenya Power said it is focusing on live line maintenance without disrupting power supply across the country.
