Ministry of Energy announces plans to revive Muhoroni gas turbine

An aerial view of KenGen's Ol-Karia IV power plant. [AFP]

The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum has announced plans to revive the Muhoroni Gas turbine power plant.

Located on the border of Kisumu and Kericho counties the plant will play a key role in curbing frequent power shortages experienced in parts of Western and Rift Valley regions.

The region, with an installed capacity of 249 megawatts relies heavily on this facility for peak load balancing and grid stability, especially during times of high demand or power shortfalls from other plants.

The power plant stopped working last June due to technical issues.

Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi who toured the plant on Friday said his ministry is in consultation with KenGen management to ensure the plant starts working again.

He acknowledged that parts of southern Nyanza, Bomet, and Kericho counties have experienced power shortages for some time now because of the breakdown.

"As a ministry, we are looking into ways of curbing those shortages. Our visit here is part of the endeavour to find out what can be done in the shortest time possible to address the problem of power shortages," said Wandayi.

The gas turbine remains one of the costliest electricity suppliers in the country to the national grid at Sh56.73 for every unit.

A report tabled in Parliament in July 2023 indicated that Muhoroni's price was more than double followed by Iberafrica Power which sells a unit to Kenya Power at Sh28.24 followed by Rabai Power with Sh24.04 per unit.

The gas turbine owned and run by KenGen has a capacity of 60 megawatts.

"The non-operation of this plant has a big impact on the total generation capacity. It has not been running since last June. We are now exploring ways of bringing it back to life within the shortest time possible through consultations with KenGen," he said.

He said once up and running, the problem of power outages shall have been addressed to a large extent although not fully.

He said his ministry is also going to put up a substation at Thurdibuoro in Kisumu.

Muhoroni gas turbine is composed of two gas turbines (GT1 and GT2), each with a 30 megawatts capacity, for a total installed capacity of 60MW. 

According to KenGen, in 1987 GT1 was first installed at Kipevu, followed by GT2 in 1999, providing support to the grid in the coastal region.