Blackouts: Chirchir wants temporary ban on signing Power Purchase Agreements lifted

At the session, it also emerged that the diminishing spinning reserve in the system due to an influx of intermittent power plants and lack of enough plants to provide necessary support has limited the absorption of renewable energy power plants.

"KenGen is exploring replacing existing Hydro turbine runners with modern ones that have the capability of a bigger operating range. We are sure this will address the need for spinning reserves in the short term," he said in his responses to the committee.

At the same time, the CS blamed poor hydrology at the Masinga Dam stating that it is still low and hydro generation cannot be fully dispatched affecting spinning reserves.

"We are continuously monitoring the generation situation and in light of the Least Cost Power Development Plan, we will ensure that the generation condition in Kenya is sufficient as it is now," he added.

The Ministry is positive that the expected El Nino rains will greatly improve the hydro availability.

Chirchir who was accompanied by Principal Secretary of State Department for Energy, Alex Mwachira, Kenya Power CEO Joseph Siror, and his KETRACO and KENGEN counterparts, stated that the ministry's technical committee has reviewed the last week's power outage in the country and advised the affected generation plant on the measures to be taken to prevent recurrence.

On his part, Siror defended the competence of KPLC engineers, absolving them from a barrage of questions from the committee members who questioned why it took them long to restore power after Friday's outage that paralysed operations in various places including the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.