Kenya Power to invest US$600 million in power network

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Kenya Power has announced it will invest US$600 million in strengthening its electricity distribution network to support heavy industrial and commercial use.

The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ben Chumo made the announcement while addressing members of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) in Nairobi, yesterday.

The money will be injected over the next three years and will provide dedicated power supply lines to industrial and commercial centres with adequate redundancy to ensure continuous supply during period of system maintenance.

Chumo said: “Our business is to support economic growth and we plan mega investments in the network to make it robust to support manufacturers to increase their productivity and expand capacity that will create more employment and wealth.

He also explained there is an on-going initiative to strengthen the existing distribution network by addressing inherent weaknesses with the objective of reducing unplanned supply interruptions and improve quality and reliability of electricity.

In relation to adequacy of power supply, Chumo said the 5000MW project by the government was on course adding that by August this year 280 MW from the competitively priced geothermal power would be injected into the grid adding that this will help to start bringing down cost of power from where it is currently.