10th July 2024

Nairobi, Kenya:

H.E the President of the Republic of Kenya Hon. Dr. William Samoei Ruto, PhD, C.G.H has today commissioned the fully energized 220/66kV Kimuka sub-station- one of Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO’s) sub-stations in Kajiado County.

The substation is directly connected to Suswa substation and therefore receives reliable green energy from the Olkaria geothermal Power Plants, Lake Turkana Wind Plant and the Regional Interconnection from Ethiopia.

The new 220/66kV Kimuka substation now supply large parts of Nairobi and surrounding areas through five 66kV feeder lines to Karen/Dagoreti/Kikuyu, Ngong, Matasia, Magadi and Ngemwa KPC pumping station.

Speaking during the commissioning, H.E President Ruto reiterated the government’s commitment in ensuring that the country achieves 100 per cent connectivity and 100 per cent green energy mix by 2030.

The president further mentioned that the supply of adequate and reliable power will increase confidence levels among investors resulting in new and expanded investments in the industrial sector, service sector and residential sector across the areas benefiting in Nairobi, Kiambu, Kajiado counties.

Kimuka substation serves approximately 560,000 customers in Nairobi and surrounding areas. The peak demand for the area is 90MW.

The sub-station will further reinforce the existing distribution network in the greater Nairobi Metropolitan Area resulting in improved power quality and reliability and reduction in technical losses. The substation completes the 220kV Ring around Nairobi.

Also in attendance during the commissioning were Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir, Principal Secretary for Energy, Alex Wachira and Chairman of the Board of Directors at KETRACO, Capt. Mohamed M. Abdi.

Kimuka residents will benefit from stable and reliable electricity supply following the energization of the sub-station in March 2024.

KETRACO MD, Dr.Eng. John Mativo said the Kimuka energization will further assist in de-loading the existing 220kV Suswa-North lines and 220/66kV transformers at Nairobi North Substation by transferring load (~80MW) from Nairobi North substation to Kimuka station.

“This will help reduce the risk of system instability and improve security of evacuation of power from green sources (geothermal, wind and hydro imports) from Suswa to Nairobi.” Said KETRACO MD Eng. Dr. John Mativo.

The Kimuka substation line is part of the Nairobi Ring and Associated substations project which once completed will offer an alternative supply path for power into the Nairobi Metropolitan region. It will additionally remove the load from the existing overloaded substations.

The scope of the project involves the construction of 103km 400kV double circuit line from Suswa substation to Isinya substation rated at 1200MW, two 220kV substations at Suswa and Isinya as well as 220/66kV substations at Kimuka, Athi River and Komarock.

The Kimuka project has been financed by Agence française de développement (AFD), European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Government of Kenya (GoK) to the tune of 25 million USD.

The Nairobi Ring Associated Substations infrastructure project falls under the country’s

Vision 2030 flagship projects within the energy sector.

 

The project which has a 1,700MW evacuating capacity is part of the system strengthening/capacity enhancement projects that will improve transfer capacity of electrical energy and address the challenge of low voltages, high transmission losses, unreliability of supply and network security.

 

The Nairobi Ring and Associated substations project will ensure that Nairobi Is supplied power within a robust and redundant system.

 

 

 

About KETRACO

KETRACO, owned by the Government of Kenya, was incorporated on 2nd December 2008 under the Companies Act, pursuant to the reforms in Sessional Paper No.4 to plan, design, construct, own, operate, and maintain high voltage national electricity transmission lines and regional power inter-connector which form the backbone of the National Electricity Grid.

In carrying out its mandate, the Company is developing a new robust grid system to:

  1. Improve quality, reliability, and safety of electricity supply throughout the Country.
  2. Transmit electricity to areas that are currently not supplied by the national grid.
  3. Evacuate power from planned generation points.
  4. Provide a link with the neighbouring countries to facilitate power exchange and trade in the East Africa Region
  5. Reduce electricity transmission losses hence reducing the cost to the economy.
  6. Protect electricity consumers from the high costs of power by absorbing the capital transmission infrastructure.

 

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