Revealed: Irony of solar plants denying Kenyans cheaper power
Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Davies Chirchir.
Consumers have been paying more for electricity over the past four years since the government brought on board three solar power plants in the North Rift that displaced cheaper hydropower from Turkwel.
Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir on Monday revealed that the connection of Selenkei, Cedate and Alten solar power plants to the grid stretched the capacity of the Turkwel-Ortum-Kitale transmission line. The line was initially used to evacuate power from the 106-megawatt Turkwel hydropower plant, which is owned by KenGen.
The CS revealed that the failure by the government to invest Sh300 million to upgrade the capacity of the line saw the State reduce the uptake of cheap power from Turkwel. Power from the solar plants remains prioritised until the power purchase agreements (PPAs) requirements are met.
The CS made the revelation when he made his submissions on government interventions that could lower the cost of living to the National Dialogue Committee.
“When we came in, we found the Turkwel-Ortum-Kitale transmission line not having the capacity to transmit power from Turkwel. This is because when we developed Selenkei, Cedate, and Alten solar power plants in the West Rift, the line’s capacity was not upgraded,” said Mr Chirchir.
He said the cost of hydropower from Turkwel is between three cents and four cents per unit, which is cheaper than that from the solar plants.
He explained that due to the take-or-pay model of the PPAs signed between Kenya Power and the solar power producers, power from the solar plants has to be prioritised because the utility would still have to pay if it does not take the electricity.
This means that Kenyans have been forced to pay higher electricity prices even as cheap power from Turkwel remains underutilised.
“For the last four years, we have not been utilising Turkwel, which comes to the grid at between three cents and four cents (per unit) because the transmission line is not able to carry power from the solar plants and Turkwel,” he said.
“So what do we do? We take the expensive power from solar which is intermittent and not good for the grid, and because we have not put in investment of Sh300 million to upgrade the capacity of the transmission line,” the CS said.
Selenkei Solar Farm is Kenya’s second-largest solar plant and has an installed capacity of 40MW. The Garissa Solar Power Plant is the largest in Kenya with an installed capacity of 54.65MW. Cedate, Alten, and Malindi solar plants each have an installed capacity of 40MW.
