Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has issued a statement following a Friday morning power outage that affected several parts of the country except sections of the North Rift and Western regions.
Wandayi said the blackout occurred after a 20kV high-voltage Loiyangalani transmission line tripped at Suswa substation while evacuating 288MW from the Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) plant.
The 8.56am occurrence was followed by a trip on the Ethiopia – Kenya 500kV DC interconnector that was then carrying 200MW, resulting in a total loss of 488MW.
Wandayi explained that the total demand in the system at the time was 1790 MW.
"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," said Wandayi.Following the outage, the CS said the restoration efforts commenced immediately and by 11.30am, they had normalized supply to parts of North Rift, Central Rift, Nairobi and Mount Kenya regions.
Wandayi said a team from KETRACO has been dispatched to inspect the transmission power line while the restoration efforts to other parts affected are progressing.
"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," Wandayi added.