Ethio-Kenya Power Line Becomes Operational

Addis Ababa, November 17, 2022 (Walta) – The Ethio-Kenya 500 KV power transmission line and converter substation has officially becomes operational today.

The grid connection between Ethiopia and Kenya is expected to generate more than 100 million dollar to Ethiopia through electricity sale.

Testing of energizing power on the transmission line has been carried out since November 08, 2022.

The Ethio-Kenya 500 KV transmission line, which officially started power transmission today, has the capacity to earn up to one hundred million US dollars per year and has the capacity to transmit up to two thousand megawatts of electricity to countries from Kenya and Tanzania to South Africa.

The Ethio-Kenya power transmission line and converter station project was built at a cost of above five hundred million US dollars, including the cost of the consultancy, compensation, and the cost of replacing stolen infrastructure.

Of this, $ 214.5 million is for the construction of the converter station and ground electrode line, and $ 120 million is spent for the stringing of transmission line.

The construction work of the Ethio-Kenya 500 KV transmission line was done by a Chinese company, CET, and the converter station and the ground electrode line were done by Siemens.

The transmission line, protection and data communication line (optical ground fiber) extended through Ethiopian boarder is 440 kilometers long and has 994 towers.

Ethiopia has completed activities to ensure uninterrupted and reliable transmission of power, and it is expected that similar activities will be implemented by Kenya soon.

The transmission line passes through the Wolayita, Gamo and Konso zones of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional Government and the Borena zone of the Oromia Regional Government to Kenya.

Ethiopia is already conducting power sales with Sudan and Djibouti, and has signed a memorandum of understanding with Somaliland, Tanzania, South Sudan and other African countries to sell electricity.

Ethiopia is working aggressively to become regional power exporter. So far the country has bee exporting power to Sudan and Djibouti.

Last year, an income of 95.4 million US dollars was obtained from the export of electricity to Sudan and Djibouti.