Addis Ababa, December 16 (WIC) – Kenya plans to buy 400 megawatts of electricity from Ethiopia by 2016 via a $1.2 billion interconnection line with construction set to start in 2013, its energy ministry said on Friday.
Patrick Nyoike, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said that Ethiopia would sell the power to Kenya at $0.07 per kilowatt hour and that Kenya’s installed capacity is expected to rise to 3,868 MW from 1,394 MW at present.
Chronic power blackouts and higher electricity bills in east Africa’s biggest economy have fueled high consumer prices and cast doubts on the government’s ability to manage the economy.
Kenya’s inflation rate has soared this year to 20 percent in November partly due to high electricity bills affected by drought conditions and a volatile local currency.
Kenya has set a target of 30,000 MW generation by 2030, by developing a mix of plants powered by hydro, wind, geothermal, coal and nuclear energy.
Ethiopia, which has cascading rivers flowing through rugged mountains, is estimated to have a hydropower potential of around 45,000 MW and plans to sell power to Sudan, Yemen, Kenya and Egypt.
“A country which already has surplus electricity, Ethiopia has a huge hydro-electric power potential …relatively much cheaper to develop than the remaining hydropower potential in Kenya,” Nyoike said in the statement.
Nyoike said that funding for the construction of the interconnection line, that could transmit up to 2,000 MW, would be sourced from the World Bank, the French Development Agency and the African Development Bank.
Kenya is also pursuing a 220 KV interconnector with Uganda and a 400KV interconnector with Tanzania. (Reuters)