Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) expects stable and reliable electricity supply in Nairobi and its environs following the completion of the 220/66kV Kimuka Substation transmission line.
The new substation in Kajiado County forms part of power evacuation alternative to the capital besides Dandora substation in Nairobi North.
According to KETRACO, the Kimuka energization will further assist in de-loading the existing 220kV Suswa-North lines and 220/66kV transformers at Nairobi North Substation by transferring load at least 80MW from Nairobi North substation to Kimuka station.
“This project supports Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) by increasing access to affordable power and improvement of system efficiency and reliability for existing and proposed industrial and domestic loads in Magadi and Ngong, Karen and its environs hence improve social economic benefits of those areas,” said Dr John Mativo, Managing Director at KETRACO.
The projects forms part of the the Ksh 16.9 billion Nairobi Ring and Associated substations project which once completed will offer an alternative supply path for power into the Nairobi Metropolitan region and remove the load from the existing overloaded substations.
The project involves the construction of 103km 400kV double circuit line from Suswa substation to Isinya substation rated at 1200MW, two 220kV substations at Suswa and Isinya as well as 220/66kV substations at Kimuka, Athi River and Komarock and is jointly funded by the exchequer, Agencefrançaise de développement (AFD), and European Investment Bank (EIB).
The project which has a 1,700MW evacuating capacity is part of the system strengthening capacity enhancement projects that will improve transfer capacity of electrical energy and address the challenge of low voltages, high transmission losses, unreliability of supply and network security.
The project will additionally ensure that the geothermal generations at Olkaria, wind generation at Lake Turkana, Ngong Hills, Kipeto amongst others are reliably evacuated into the grid.
