Why Kenya depends on Ethiopia, Uganda for power?
Kenya's electricity imports from Ethiopia and Uganda rose by 66.7 percent in 2024 as Nairobi deepened reliance on the two countries to stabilise its power supply, amid rising demand and increased transmission and distribution losses.
The latest Economic Survey 2025 shows that Nairobi increased its imports of electricity from the two countries to 1,532.6 GWh in 2024, from 919.3GWh in 2023, at a time when its total installed electricity capacity declined to 3,235.5MW, from 3,243.6MW due to the expiry of Imenti Tea Factory's power purchase agreement and the lower capacity of Muhoroni Gas turbine caused by depreciation.
Kenya's local electricity generation remained relatively unchanged at 12,467GWh in the past four years (2021-2024), with transmission and distributive losses accounting for 23.5 percent (3,307.4 GWh) of total supply in 2024, according to the report.'Electricity imports rose by 66.7 per cent to 1,532.6GWh in 2024 due to increased imports from Ethiopia,' the report says.
Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) and Kenya Power signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the sale and purchase of electricity in July 2022. Under the deal, Kenya gets a maximum firm capacity of 200MW in the first three years and thereafter a maximum firm capacity of 400MW for the remainder of the 25-year PPA.
Kenya Power started importing 200MW of hydropower from Ethiopia in November 2022, with the Ethiopian power constituting 11 percent of the electricity consumed by Kenyans daily.
Last month, Kenya Power said that formal talks had started with EEP to allow importation of an extra 50-100MW, underlining Nairobi's reliance on electricity imports to secure its power needs.
According to the report, Kenya's total electricity generation and imports increased in 2024, with hydroelectricity generation rising by 36.2 per cent to 3,630.7GWh, due to favourable rainfall in 2024.
Thermal declined by 13.5 percent to 1,129.5GWh in 2024, while wind decreased by 10.5 percent to 1,797.7GWh.
Geothermal and solar production dropped by 8 percent and 6.3 per cent to 5,551GWh and 460.4GWh, respectively.
Read: Kenya's power imports from Uganda rise 18pc in January on high demandDuring the year, 91 percent of electricity was generated from renewable sources -- hydro, geothermal, wind, and solar.
Geothermal contributed 44.2 per cent of the total local electricity produced, followed by hydro generation at 28.9 percent.
Wind generation accounted for 14.3 percent while solar accounted for 3.7 percent of the total electricity generated. Thermal oil was the only non-renewable energy source, accounting for 8.9 percent.
Kenya's total electricity demand increased by 5.1 per cent to 14,101.9GWh in 2024, with domestic demand rising to 10,751.7GWh from 10,320.6GWh in the period.
Demand in all categories, save for street lighting, grew during the year.
The demand by large and medium (commercial and industrial), and domestic and small commercial categories increased by 4.1 percent and 4.9 percent to 5,515.2GWh and 4,459.1GWh, respectively.
Demand for rural electrification increased by 3.9 percent to 684.79GWh while e-mobility consumed 2.8GWh.
Meanwhile, Kenya has also been exporting electricity to Uganda and Tanzania with exports to the two neighbouring countries increasing by 26.62 percent to 42.8GWh in 2024, from 33.8GWh in 2023.
© Copyright 2022 Nation Media Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
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