In an initiative that will help four tea factories in nyeri county reduce power costs, the Gura Hydro Power project will now be expected to come online in mid of next year. This is according to the Kenya Tea Development Agency board chairman Mr. Peter Kanyago.
The hydro power initiative by four tea factories, namely Gathuthi, Gitugi, Iria-ini, Chinga tea factories, will generate 6MW of electricity, part of which shall benefit the local community.
“The four factories will only use 2.8 megawatts and the rest will be sold to the national grid. We can also think of providing power to the nearest tea factories in Murang’a County,” Kanyago said.
He added that Gura Hydro Power project will help the factories lower the cost of electricity bills. In particular, each of the four beneficiary factories will save about US$445,434 a year as a result. Construction will involve setting up a power plant at the site and related developments.
Producers and manufacturers have already raised concern over rising power costs in the country, a situation the Kenyan government has recently said through the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir that it was fixing – by lowering the bill and adding renewable energy into the national grid to help lower costs.
Dams for provision of water to locals and electricity have also been set up or lined up for construction in different parts of the country, including the recently announced planned mega dam construction in Mwea area for irrigation purposes.
