Uganda rejects Kenya’s request for power backup as neighbor endures 15-hour blackout

The neighboring country suffered a nationwide blackout that started on Friday, at about 9:45 p.m., and lasted about 15 hours.

The outage was blamed on a fault on the 270MW Lake Turkana Wind Power Plant (LTWP). 

Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) in a statement on Saturday, revealed in their efforts to restore supply, they reached out to UTCL but didn't get a positive response, forcing them to turn to Seven Fork Hydro power stations in Thika.

But the Seven Fork option, the company said, took much longer compared to electricity import from Uganda (UETCL), which would have been faster but was unavailable at the time.

In spite of the partial restoration, Kenyan said in the statement that they are still in touch with Uganda to help with full restoration.

"We are jointly working on having the Uganda interconnector restored so as to enhance our grid recovery efforts," Kenya Power revealed.

"Additionally, we are in the final stages of onboarding power from the Olkaria complex where most of the geothermal plants are located to allow the restoration of power supply to parts of Nairobi, Coast, Western, Central Rift, North Rift, and South Nyanza that are still off supply," the statement from Kenya power read.

Meanwhile, the blackout, which had widespread repercussions including the disruption of critical installations such as Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), has prompted MPs to summon Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and Kenya Power CEO Joseph Siror for an explanation

As of March 2023, Uganda planned to connect its grid to Kenya at Malaba, to DR Congo at Mpondwe, South Sudan at Nimule and Tanzania at Mutukula. Uganda had by then powered its line up to the Mirama Hills interconnection point. 

However, the extension was delayed owing to the stalled construction of high-voltage overhead transmission lines in the neighboring countries, including Kenya.