The Ministry of Energy says it is addressing the root cause of the instability in the national power transmission grid that led to the recent power outages in some parts of the country.

Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir told the Senate on Wednesday that the Government is committed in having a reliable, sustainable and resilient national grid system.

“The Government together with our development partners are working on grid reinforcement plan to ensure that the frequent blackouts experienced lately do not become a persistent matter,” said CS Chirchir as he tabled in the House a list of recommended critical grid enhancement projects which are in various stages of implementation.

The CS was responding to a question raised by Senator Mohamed Chute over the disruption of power supply witnessed in most parts of the country on Saturday, November 1, 2023 and the actions the Ministry has taken to ensure the disruption is not witnessed.

The Senator also wanted the CS to explain to the House the status of investigation into the matter.

The CS told the House that the power supply disturbance was triggered by a trip on the 80MVA and 90MVA transformers at Olkaria 2 and Olkaria 1AU substations.

Olkaria Naivasha 132kV line also tripped at the same time.

“The cause was attributed to a failed jumper cable at Olkaria 1-132kV substation,” said the CS, adding that the substation was commissioned in 1982 and reconstruction work in addition to upgrading of the generators which is due to commence this year.

The loss of 170MW and Naivasha 132kV line resulted in increased power flow through Olkaria 2 – Kibos 220KV line 1 and Suswa – Nairobi North 220kV lines.

The shift in the power flows caused an overload on Kisumu – Muhoroni 132kV line and ther two 200MVA transformers at Dandora 220kV substation.

“Joint Technical and Operational teams in the energy sector have continuously reviewed such major disturbance with resultant improvement recommendations some of which have been implemented,” he said.

“These endeavors and efforts have continued to reduce the frequency and severity of system disturbances especially those that would cascade and lead to national grid collapse despite vulnerability 

The CS assured the House that the system defense mechanism such as Effective Under Frequency Load Shedding Scheme (UFLS) and provision of emergency overload capacity for critical transmission lines have been employed and working well.

However, the proposed key projects especially alternative transmission lines and evacuating power from key generation points which are pending poses major challenges in operating the network optimally.