This archive report was first published on 13 July 2020.
On June 1, 2020, vandalism of a key power line that supplies Nairobi with cheaper electricity from the Naivasha geothermal fields pushed reliance on expensive thermal to an eight-month high.
Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter attributed the increased reliance on thermal power to the damage of one of the two power lines supplying the city centre in April.
"That is the line that sources power from Suswa where we have the major substation so when it was damaged in April, we had to use the one from Juja –Dandora-Embakasi to supply the city," Mr Keter said.
Thermal became necessary to avoid overloading the transformers in that line. We also had to reduce geothermal supply since this is one of the key lines that evacuate power from the Olkaria Geothermal zone," Mr Keter added.
According to Mr Keter, Nairobi is supplied through the 220 kilovolt (Kv) line from the Suswa substation where all generated power is transmitted to first before distribution.
More uptake of geothermal power was occasioned by the re-routing of two power lines at the Coast region to pave way for the construction of the Sh6.5 billion Kwa Jomvu-Makupa Causeway in Mombasa.
However, the move prompted uptake of more thermal to support the remaining 400Kv line from Suswa.
