Loiyangalani–Suswa High Voltage Power Line is a

high voltage High voltage electricity refers to electrical potential large enough to cause injury or damage. In certain industries, ''high voltage'' refers to voltage above a certain threshold. Equipment and conductors that carry high voltage warrant spec ...

electricity power line in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, connecting the high voltage substation at Loyangalani, in

Marsabit County Marsabit County is a county in Kenya. Covering a surface area of 66,923.1 square kilometres. Marsabit is the second largest county in Kenya. Its capital is Marsabit and its largest town Moyale. According to the 2019 census, the county has a pop ...

, to another high voltage substation at

Suswa Suswa is a small town along the main road from Nairobi to Narok town and at the foot of Mount Suswa in Narok County. Suswa is also a ward in Narok East sub-county. The Suswa sub-station is located just outside town and electricity that is generate ...

, in

Narok County Narok County is a county in Kenya with an estimated population of 1,157,873 according to 2019 Census, with the dominant ethnic group being the Maasai. Its capital and largest town is Narok. The other major urban centre in Narok County is Kilgor ...

Location

The power line starts at the

Lake Turkana Wind Power Station Lake Turkana Wind Power Project (LTWP) is a wind farm in Kenya. It is located in Loiyangalani District, in Marsabit County, approximately by road north of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city. The wind farm covers and has a capacity of 310 MW, ...

in Loiyangalani, Marsabit County and runs in a southerly direction for approximately to end at the

Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited, commonly referred to as KETRACO, is a wholly-owned parastatal of the Government of Kenya which serves as the primary Transmission System Operator in the Republic of Kenya. Location The headquart ...

electricity substation, at Suswa, in

Overview

The 400kV power line is intended to evacuate the electricity generated at the Turkana Wind Power Station, to the Ketraco substation at Suswa. The

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is lending the

Kenyan government , image = , caption = Coat of arms of Kenya , date = 1963 , jurisdiction = Republic of Kenya , url = http://www.mygov.go.ke/ , legislature = Parliament of Kenya , meeting_place = ...

a total of €142 million (approx. US$174.6 million), to have this line constructed. The contract between Isolux and Ketraco is for a construction price of US$208.1 million. The government of Kenya will provide the balance of approximately US$33.5 million as equity in the power line, along with any associated land acquisition costs.

Construction

In 2011, the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

company, Isolux Ingeniera SA won the contract to construct this power line. Due to a prolonged land acquisition process, work did not actually start until November 2015. Sixteen months into construction, on a project allocated 24 months, the parent company of the main contractor, Isolux Corsán, ran out of money and filed

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in Spain due to the

2008–2014 Spanish financial crisis The 2008–2014 Spanish financial crisis, also known as the Great Recession in Spain or the Great Spanish Depression, began in 2008 during the world financial crisis of 2007–08. In 2012, it made Spain a late participant in the European soverei ...

. In August 2017, Ketraco terminated the contract with Isolux, with about 30 percent of the work completed. In February 2018, the Kenya government, through Ketraco, contracted a

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

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firms at a cost of US$96 million, to complete the work left pending by Isolux. Work is expected to conclude in August 2018. The consortium, comprising ''NARI Group Corporation'' and ''Power China Guizhou Engineering Company'', has committed in writing to pay US$10 million in fines, for every month the work goes beyond the 31 August 2018 deadline. In September 2018,

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reported that construction of the power station was complete and it was awaiting testing and commissioning, requiring the power line to be energized from grid to gradually configure the hundreds of turbines. In July 2019,

Uhuru Kenyatta Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 26 October 1961) is a Kenyan politician who served as the fourth president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. Kenyatta was chosen by Daniel Arap Moi as his preferred successor, but Kenyatta was defeated by opposition le ...

, the president of Kenya officially commissioned the completed high voltage line (including a

fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...

line), as well as the wind power station that it serves (

Capacity charge

In January 2017, the owners of

started to bill the Kenya Power Company a monthly "capacity charge" of KSh700 million (approx. US$7 million), for power produced by the power station that cannot be evacuated due to the lack of a high-voltage line to transmit it to the substation at Suswa. Following negotiations, in September 2017, the

government of Kenya , image = , caption = Coat of arms of Kenya , date = 1963 , jurisdiction = Republic of Kenya , url = http://www.mygov.go.ke/ , legislature = Parliament of Kenya , meeting_place = ...

agreed to pay the developers of Lake Turkana Wind Power Station, a total of Sh5.7 billion (approx. US$55.83 million), in monthly installments, spread over a six-year period. The monthly payment will amount to Sh78,600,000 (approx. US$769,833). The monthly surcharge will be passed on to the consumers, beginning in May 2018.

References

External links