Kenya will establish state-owned electricity transmission and geothermal power companies to boost the country’s energy security, said Kiraitu Murungi, the country’s energy minister.

“My ministry intends to develop 630 megawatts of geothermal power between 2012 and 2019,” he told a news conference today in Nairobi, the country’s capital. The companies will be set up by the end of January, he said.
Kenya has an electricity capacity of 1,215 megawatts, compared with peak demand of 1,150 megawatts, leaving a reserve capacity of less than the 15 percent recommended international average, Murungi said.
To improve Kenya’s energy situation, the country will invest 4.5 billion Kenyan shillings ($61 million) sinking 12 geothermal wells to generate as much as 7,000 megawatts of electricity, and 750 million shillings on the accompanying transmission company, he said.
“The current low quality of electricity supply throughout the country is largely due to neglect and stagnation in upgrade and expansion of the transmission grid,” Murungi said.
As a result, he said, 32 billion shillings will be spent constructing 2,300 kilometers (1429 miles) of 132 kilovolt power lines across the country by 2015. A higher voltage 400 kilovolt line will be built between Nairobi and Mombasa, at a cost of 18 billion shillings. Another 400 kilovolt line will be built northwards to import electricity from Ethiopia, at a cost of 29 billion shillings.
“Construction of transmission lines cannot be funded through tariff increases,” Murungi said. “It has to be funded by the government through its infrastructure budget.”
Once established, Kenya’s geothermal company will exploit the country’s estimated reserves of 7,000 megawatts. Only 130 megawatts of this potential is currently being captured, Murungi said.
(Source: Bloomberg)