Kenya to export 30 MW of electricity to Rwanda

Flag pins Kenya-Rwanda

Kenya will sell 30MW of electricity to Rwanda via Uganda in the next three months.
Rwanda received a $50 million syndicated loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to finance the project

Works on a 400 kilovolt (kV) power transmission line running from Olkaria geothermal power production in Kenya, via Uganda to Birembo will be completed at the end of September 2015.
Rwanda signed a five-year contract with Kenya through the country’s power distributor Kenya Power. Rwanda will pay $14 cents per kilowatt of power imported. The contract will be reviewed after every two years.

Selling power to Rwanda is also part of the East African Power Pool project which promotes power exchanges between utilities in Eastern Africa region.

Kenya is spearheading East African Power Interconnectivity

African Power Pools.

Kenya is spearheading the development of East African Power Pool (EAPP). The regional power links are expected to be ready in the next three years. The East Africa regional power grid is similar to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
Kenya Electricity Transmission Co. Ltd. (KETRACO) is upgrading and expanding Kenya’s 1955 decrepit high voltage power transmission lines.
The EAPP will connect Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the Africa Great Lakes region.
Ethiopia which aims at making hydro power a major national export to neighboring countries has already signed contracts with Kenya to sell power. Ethiopia is counting on exporting to Kenya the almost complete 1870 MW Gilgel Gibe III hydro power.
The power interconnection to the south will further connect the East Africa power grid via Tanzania to the 12-nation SAPP circuit. The Southern Africa region aims at being energy sufficient by 2019.
The high voltage power interconnections execution is a challenge. The ongoing and the proposed 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) infrastructure project require huge investment.
The KETRACO value the cost of current projects at over Ksh. 200 billion (US$ 2.0 billion). The projects are financed by The Government of Kenya in partnership with The African Development Bank, and The French Development Agency among others.
The projects are expected to provide reliable and affordable power supply. It will also minimize constant power outage problem.