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Kenya Power to invest 115 mln USD to finance new substations

Xinhua, February 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Kenya's sole electricity distributor said on Tuesday that it will invest 115 million U.S. dollars to finance the construction of 36 new substations to enhance the country's electricity network.

Kenya Power's CEO Ben Chumo told journalists in Nairobi the substation projects are financed using the company's internally generated funds and borrowings and are implemented under the Kenya Electricity Modernisation Project (KEMP).

"In the company's strategic plan, we target to increase access to electricity to at least 75 percent of Kenyans by 2020," Chumo said.

"Working with rural electrification programmes and subject to availability of additional resources, we hope to surpass that target for universal access by the end of that year in recognition that electricity is a key enabler of the country's developmentl," he added.

KEMP is a government-led initiative being implemented from this

financial year with the objectives of increasing the transformation capacity by 412 MVA and development of 724 km of medium voltage lines, increase number of households and businesses with access to electricity and to improve quality of electricity service in targeted areas," Chumo said.

Besides enhancing system in readiness for the evacuation of additional power generation under the 5,000+ MW plan, Chumo said the new substations, to be located in 23 counties across the country, will help improve power supply to electricity customers as well as provide capacity to support economic growth.

Among other objectives, he added, KEMP proposes establishment of new primary substations and associated lines as well as upgrade works on existing ones in identified locations countrywide.

It also proposes completion of automation projects for Mombasa and Nairobi as well as roll-out for Kisumu, Thika, Nakuru, Eldoret and Nyeri.

Kenya Power continues to register steady growth in demand for power in the country with the current actual demand at 1,512 MW. This has been occasioned by the national economic growth especially in the last ten years economic growth and is expected to maintain a similar trend in the coming years.

Kenya Power currently has about 3 million electricity customers which include a milestone achievement of 443,000 connections realised last year.

The company has an ambitious target of connecting one million customer accounts in the subsequent years beginning this financial year. Endi