WHAT CAUSED THE POWER OUTRAGE IN KENYA

Kenya witnessed a third nationwide power blackout in four years, which resulted in financial losses running into millions of shillings as businesses were disrupted. The outrage started around 10.45 am and took nearly four hours before being restored to parts of the country after repair works by the Kenya Power engineers.

In May 2020, Kenya experienced a similar nationwide outage. This occurred after a section of a high voltage power line that transmits power to Nairobi from the Olkaria geothermal power plants, some 75 km (45 miles) from Nairobi, broke.

While in December 2021, a section of another transmission line known as Loyaingalani-Suswa, collapsed, knocking out some power supply and leading to power rationing in parts of the country while it was being repaired. So the latest outrage does not come as a shocking news as the Kenya Power who owns and operates most of the electricity transmission and distribution system in the country has a lot of work to do.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE POWER OUTRAGE?

According to Kenya Power, the nationwide power outage has been occasioned by the collapse of the Kiambere -Embakasi high voltage transmission power line.

In their statement, the firm said its engineers are conducting repairs on the power line in a bid to restore the electricity supply.

“An update on the restoration progress will be issued in due course, we wish to apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused,” the firm said in a statement.

Some hours later, A company spokesperson confirmed the outage was nationwide. It said in a statement that as of 1435 GMT, power had been restored in all parts of the country except in three administrative regions, know as counties, and whose supply was expected back by 1500 GMT. “Work has also commenced to reconstruct the collapsed electricity towers.

SOURCE: REUTERS

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