By Macharia Kamau
The future to cheaper power in eastern Africa lies in pooling together of power generation resources among the region’s economies.
Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) Managing Director Joseph Njoroge said interconnection of national grid lines could be used in cases where a member state experiences a power deficit.
Other than reliability, Njoroge added that the cost of energy would go down with countries tapping into each other’s power generation resources, which would reduce costs associated with using fossil fuels for electricity generation.
‘‘The cost of electricity should significantly and sustainably come down when we are finally interconnected as this would bring together different resources together like power generation capacities and personnel,’’ he said.
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Kenya has traditionally relied on hydropower production but the erratic weather patterns have seen the country suffer low generation in the recent past due to low water levels at the main generation sites.
Njoroge, who doubles up as the chairman for the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP), said lack of interconnection to electricity systems of countries in the region, had cost Kenya dearly as the country was forced to rely on the costly diesel powered electricity generation systems.
Kenya has such a connection only with Uganda.
Njoroge spoke yesterday in Nairobi at a regional electricity workshop convened by USAID and EAPP.
He added that power utility firms should be innovative so as to compete appropriately in the market.
‘‘Trading in electricity should be just as with commodities. Energy is key in driving any economy and we must fast track initiatives so that we can start trading in energy,’‘ he said.
Njoroge announced that Kenya was in the process connecting its power lines with those of Ethiopia and Tanzania and additional lines to Uganda.
Countries in the regional power pool have set a deadline of 2012 to have their grid lines interconnected before setting up a regional regulator to oversee the commencement of trading in electricity from within the power pool.
Njoroge said it would take between four and five years from before the country benefits from cheaper and reliable power supply.
EAPP is made of countries in East Africa as well as Egypt, Sudan and Somalia. Tanzania and Uganda, which are strategically positioned within the region and have a huge potential in hydropower production are, however, yet to join.
The conference, which runs through Friday, is expected to establish the basics of trading in electricity among EAPP member states.
