15th March 2007
COAST AREA TO GET STATE-OF-THE-ART ELECTRICITY NETWORK
The electricity distribution network in the country will be upgraded to State-of-the-art
status, once the USD 152 million Energy Sector Recovery Project (ESRP) is completed in
five years, the Deputy General Manager for Finance and Corporate Services at the Kenya
Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), Mr Mack Kast, said today.
He was speaking at Stima Plaza today when he signed a Shs.1.84 billion contract with
Areva T&D of India, for upgrade of the electricity distribution system in the Coast area,
and on sections of the network in Nairobi. The Commercial General Manager of Areva
T&D, Mr Prashun Dutta, signed on behalf of his company.
The Distribution Reinforcement and Upgrade component under ESRP is being funded by
four international agencies namely International Development Assistance (IDA), Agence
Francaise de Developpement (AFD), European Investment Bank (EIB) and Nordic
Development Fund (NDF), in partnership with KPLC, to the tune of US$ 152 million, and
is expected to run for a period of five years until December 2009. Projects under the
ESRP are divided into various components, which are funded by the various financiers
respectively.
Mr Kast said projects under the contract with Areva T&D, expected to take 24 months o
implement, are being funded by Groupe Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) in
partnership with KPLC, and will entail upgrade and rehabilitation of existing lines and
substations covering a total of sixteen sites in the Coast region and a few in Nairobi.
Besides upgrading the lines at the Coast, Areva T&D will establish five (5) new
substations at Tononoka on Mombasa Island, at Kiembeni, Mariakani, Kanamai and at
Watamu, he added.
1
Giving a background of ESRP, Mr Kast said the object of the project is to upgrade KPLC’s
power distribution infrastructure, connect more customers, and improve its operational
and financial performance. The project will cover the distribution networks in all the four
administrative regions of KPLC namely Nairobi, Coast, Mt Kenya and West Kenya, he
added.
The upgraded network will have fewer power supply outages and quality of power will
improve greatly, explained Mr Kast, adding that technical losses will also be reduced,
equivalent to annual savings of more than Shs.1 billion for KPLC.
Besides, the upgraded network will have extra capacity that will enable KPLC to connect
400,000 more customers, in addition to reducing response time to breakdown among
other benefits, the Deputy General Manager said.
Another component of the ESRP will entail installation of ultra modern System Control
and Data Acquisition and Energy Management Systems (SCADA/EMS), which will allow
KPLC to optimize utilization of the transmission network, said Mr Kast.
SCADA/EMS is a fully automated dispatch and communication intelligent system
enabling remote control and interchange between the control centre and the equipment
in the field.
Ends
For more information, contact:
KPLC Corporate Communications Dept.
Tel: 3201622/628/29 or write to comms@kplc.co.ke
2