Loiyangalani- Suswa power transmission line in Kenya completed

Kenya has announced to have officially completed construction of 400kV Loiyangalani-Suswa power transmission line.

Energy Cabinet Secretary, Charles Keter confirmed the reports and said the injection of renewable energy from the Turkana Wind Power project and additional 55MW from Garissa solar power will reduce the cost of power in the country.

“With the rise of the price of fuel you would automatically expect to see the Fuel Cost Charge going up but with the injection of power from this line which is roughly 350MW it means from the current 700MW diesel power use we will hardly be running on 200MW of diesel,” said Keter.

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Reduced use in diesel power

The energy minister noted that the country’s reliance on diesel power has reduced to 14% from 50%. He further added that the transmission line will boost communication in Northern Kenya since it carries fibre optic cable for the entire length of the line.

Mr. Charles Keter also pre-commissioned the 430Km power line at Loiyangalani in Marsabit County ahead of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s official launch later this month.

The Loiyangalani-Suswa power transmission line according to Mr. Keter was completed on time and handed over to Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO). He added that the country will benefit from the power line and the Lake Turkana Wind Power project in December this year when the project will be fully operational.

“Because of foresight we did not construct a line for only 310MW, one line should be able to do up to 600MW which means the two can do 1,200MW,” said Keter.