Kenya:

Geothermal Energy Development Helps Kenya to Cut Electricity Imports by Half (Business Daily Africa)

(Courtesy CIA.gov)

Additional geothermal power brought on line in the last year has allowed Kenya to reduce the amount of electricity imported from neighboring countries.

Kenya has cut electricity imports from Uganda, which contributes 95% of imports,  by more than half following the injection of additional geothermal power into the national grid.

Data from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) indicates that Kenya imported 27.97 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) from the neighboring countries including Ethiopia in the first half of the year, down from 57.91 million kWh in same period last year, a 51.7 per cent drop.

“The reduction in imports is the effect of the additional geothermal power,” said an executive at the ERC.

The decline follows the injection of 280 megawatts of geothermal power into the national grid between July and December last year, which has resulted in a decline in power bills for more a than a fifth over the past year.

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