NAIROBI: Kenya’s electricity imports from Uganda grew by nearly a third in the year to July saddled by the shutdown of geothermal power grid for lines maintenance.
Kenya imported 40.7 million kilowatt hours from Uganda compared to 31 million units in the first seven months of last year – marking a 32 per cent growth, according to official data. This is a departure from last year when East Africa’s largest economy cut by half electricity imports from Uganda following the injection of the additional 280 megawatts geothermal power to the national grid a year earlier.
The Energy Regulatory Commission said construction works at Suswa substation prompted Kenya to temporarily withdraw the geothermal energy. Kenyan homes and businesses consumed a monthly average of 812 million kilowatt hours of power in the review period.
