KENYA PLANS SELLING POWER TO TANZANIA, UGANDA IN 2016

Professor Sospeter Muhongo, Tanzania's Minister for Energy and Minerals

Plans by Tanzania government to sell power to Kenya’s coastal towns of Mombasa and Lamu never be realized following an announcement by the proposed recipient that it expects surplus production of electricity which it intends to sell to its neighbours, including Tanzania as early as 2016.

According to Kenya’s Energy and Petroleum ministry, Uganda,
which has been selling power to Kenya since the colonial period, might find herself also obliged to purchase Kenya’s low cost electricity.

The ministry said on Tuesday that among the countries lined up to buy power from Kenya is also the new nation of South Sudan.

Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Davis Chirchir told a media briefing in Nairobi early this week that the construction of the transmission lines to connect Kenya's electric grid to its neighbours will be completed in two years.

"Any excess power will be exported to the neighbouring states facing production deficits," he said.

Chirchir said by the end of 2014, Kenya's electricity installed capacity will hit 2,300 Megawatts, up from 1600MW at the beginning of 2013.

This development potentially turns Kenya from the leading electricity buyer in the region to the top power supplier.

To achieve the plans, Kenya, East Africa’s leading economy plans to add 140MW of geothermal power in the next two months, and it also has an ambitious plan to connect at least 5,000MW of power to the national grid in the next 40 months.

The key demand drivers for the power will be the steel and iron industries, information and communication parks as well as Standard Gauge Railway. The ministry will partner with the Nairobi county government to light up the street lights. "This will accelerate the push to achieve a 24-hour economy," Chirchir said.

Principal Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Joseph Njoroge said that the cost of power is set to reduce by 40 percent in the next one year.

 "We will achieve this by exchanging fossil fuel generation with geothermal power," he said. 

 "The economy is expected to approximately grow 314 million U.S. dollars annually by avoiding use of petroleum based power generation," Njoroge said.

In November 2012, President Jakaya Kikwete inaugurated the construction of Mnazi Bay and Songosongo Natural gas processing plant and transportation pipeline in Kinyerezi, Dar es Salaam that is scheduled for completion in just two years.

During the inauguration, Minister for Energy and Minerals, Prof Sospeter Muhongo, made a grand announcement asserting that the current exploited gas can serve the country’s electricity demand for well over 90 years and that is not inclusive of offshore drilling.

Christened, the Jakaya Kikwete Pipeline, the project is expected to generate 3600MW that is approximately a 10 percent excess of the 2015 national target which was set at 2780MW for both domestic and industrial usage.

Addressing the gathering, Kikwete, accompanied by the Vice President Dr Mohamed Gharib Bilal reaffirmed his administration’s will to end power rationing. He conceded that for decades, the country has been grappling with power shortages due to dependency on hydro power.

The president was optimistic that after acquiring loans from development partner and the government of China amounting to some USD 1.2bn (about 1.92trn/-) that the project would run smoothly.

“We have decided to invest in natural gas power generation…we will generate electricity for internal or local uses but where necessary the exceeding electricity will be sold to other countries to earn foreign exchange…” said the president.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN