Kenya,France sign Ksh 3.63B deal to power Northern Kenya

By Jeremy Ogolla

Kenya and France have signed a 3.63 billion shillings deal for power grids in Northern Kenya counties, boosting the Government’s efforts to provide affordable power to all Kenyans.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault witnessed the signing of the Credit Facility Agreement at State House, Nairobi.

The government targets to light up 70 percent of all households in Kenya by June next year to open up remote areas for development and drive job creation.

This is expected to be increased to universal electricity access by the year 2020.

Since 2013, the Government has doubled the number of citizens connected to the grid from around 13 million to some 25 million.

In the last two years, over 14,000 schools have been connected to electricity, which means 23,000 are now connected to power.

Over 40 new substations have also been commissioned, raising power generation from 1,765 megawatts to more than 2,422 megawatts.

Most of those not connected are in Northern Kenya in areas not served by the national grid.

To address this, Kenya has signed a 3.63 billion shillings Credit Facility Agreement with France to finance power grids in Northern Kenya counties.

Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter signed the agreement on Kenya’s side. This is expected to boost the government’s efforts to provide affordable power to all Kenyans.

The deal will provide funds for a mini-grid retrofitting project that will be implemented byand will see installation of 9.5 MW additional power voltage in the counties.

The counties will also get an additional 0.6 megawatts wind generated by power.

The projects will involve the setting up of mini-grids in 23 sites among them Baragoi, Daadab, Eldas, Elwak, Hola, Kiunga, Mandera, Mfangano, North Horr, Laisamis, Lokichogio, Rhamu and Takaba.

The funding is a major boost to the Government’s efforts to ensure accessible, affordable, and reliable power to Kenyans.