Kenya, Ethiopia Electricity Interconnector To Be Ready By Mid-2019

NAIROBI, July 31, (Xinhua) - The Kenya and Ethiopia electricity transmission interconnector is set to be complete in mid-2019, a Kenyan official said on Monday.

Joseph Njoroge, Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, told an energy forum in Nairobi that the 1045 kilometre line is 70 per cent complete on the Kenyan side and 90 per cent complete on the Ethiopian side.

"The project is expected to be completed in 2019 and will help to boost electricity trade in the East African region," Njoroge said during the Third Meeting of the Programme Technical Steering Committee of the Project on the enhancement of a sustainable energy market in Eastern Africa-Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Region.

The Ethiopia-Kenya interconnector is a 500 kv High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) line, with 612 km on the Kenyan side and 433km on the Ethiopian side which is being funded by the African Development Bank.

Njoroge said the transmission line was initially meant to evacuate 400 Megawatts of power from Ethiopia to Kenya but negotiations are ongoing to revise the capacity in line with electricity demand in Kenya.

He noted that the Ethiopia-Kenya line is part of the East African power pool that seeks to connect the national electricity grids of eastern African countries in order to ensure energy flows from countries with a surplus to regions of deficit.