By Dorothy Musyoka
On Friday, 6th September 2024, at 8:56 am, a significant power disruption occurred in Kenya following the tripping of the 220kV High Voltage Loiyangalani transmission line at Suswa substation leading to power outage in most parts of the country.
According to the Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, Hon. Opiyo Wandayi the line, responsible for evacuating 288MW of power from the Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) plant, suddenly tripped, causing a considerable loss of power supply in the national grid.
Following the initial incident, the Ethiopia-Kenya 500kV DC interconnector, which was carrying 200MW at the time, also experienced a trip. The combined effect of these two events resulted in a total power loss of 488MW.
“The loss of 488MW, accounting for 27.3% of the total generation, resulted in cascade failure and partial collapse of the grid.This affected most regions of the country except parts of Western Kenya, which was supported by supply through the interconnector to Tororo, Uganda,” explained Hon.Wandayi.
Kenya Power and the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) initiated emergency response measures to investigate the root causes of the tripping incidents.
Technical teams were deployed to both the Suswa substation and the Ethiopia-Kenya interconnector to assess the situation and commence the restoration process.
“A team from KETRACO has been dispatched to inspect the transmission power line while the restoration efforts are progressing,” noted the energy CS.
Kenya Power has restored 70% power supply in various regions North Rift, Western, Central Rift, Nairobi and Mt.Kenya.
The ministry is fast tracking the restoration process for the rest parts of the country highlighting the need for interventions to address the power outage in the country.
“What we are witnessing today has built- up over time and is as a result of sub optimal investment in energy infrastructure.The sector is looking into short-term and long-term interventions to address this challenge including bringing onboard private sector capital to supplement government efforts,” noted CS Wandayi.
The power loss has raised concerns over the stability of the national grid, especially given the reliance on key power sources such as the LTWP plant and the Ethiopia-Kenya interconnector.
Kenya Power has assured its customers that every effort is being made to restore power supply and that measures will be taken to mitigate any similar incidents.