The government is considering drastic measures to ease Kenya’s power crisis, including resorting to the costly thermal generators. The nation experiences rolling blackouts due to a shortage of electricity.
Energy Principal Secretary Alex Wachira revealed the power grid is operating with dangerously low spinning reserves.
He told the Energy Committee of the National Assembly the situation has been worsened by plummeting wind power output.
“Every day we have load shedding in this country because we don’t have adequate power within the country.”
The PS explained that despite the reinstatement of the Ethiopian line, supplies are being rationed daily.
“Last week and this week, we have to load shed between 80MW and 170 megawatts daily,” Wachira said. “The country is in dire need of urgent power; we are almost at the place we were in 1997 and in 2008 when we had to resort to emergency thermal generators,” Wachira said.
He deplored the moratorium on new power plants, saying it has made the problem hard to mitigate. The PS said because of the moratorium on signing new power purchase agreements in 2018, which was reinstated by Parliament in 2023, the country has not developed any power generation plants.
“The reality is that for the next three years, because we have not lifted the moratorium, we have to resort to thermal generators. They are preferable because they can be put in place within a short period of time,” Wachira said.
He added, “During the rainy season, we don’t have wind, nor do we have solar in the evening. We cannot industrialise with wind and solar.”
The PS was responding to complaints by MPs about frequent blackouts that are hurting businesses and homes.
“On Monday, we load shed 130MW, yet we had all lines up; this happened because we don’t have adequate spinning reserve,” Wachira said.
He said the only way out is to expand hydropower and geothermal generation. “Last Friday, we shed 75MW, 30MW on Thursday and 80MW megawatts the previous day. The reel runs across the entire country.”
With backup capacity depleted, the ministry warns it may soon activate emergency diesel generators. In the 1997 power crisis, electricity bills soared by 35 per cent.
"The situation is dire," Wachira said. "Without immediate generation upgrades, we must consider all options, including thermal power, to keep the lights on."
The crisis has forced a radical rethink of Kenya's energy strategy. While geothermal and wind contribute 59 per cent of installed capacity, officials admit these renewable sources can't reliably meet the annual demand growth.
The ministry says its Sh61.5 billion budget for 2024-25, a Sh6.5 billion increase, is already stretched thin between rural electrification and emergency grid repairs.
Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi warned that the funds are insufficient to both connect 480,000 new customers and to address generation gaps causing blackouts.
At that time, diesel generators spiked costs that were eventually passed to consumers. During the presentation of next year’s budget estimates, Wandayi outlined ambitious plans to stabilise the grid.
He unveiled plans to drill 10 new geothermal wells and build 248km of high-voltage transmission lines. The ministry is also pushing for Kenya’s first nuclear power plant, touted as a stable “baseload” solution.
Wandayi said that even the ministry’s current projects require more support. “The Sh6.5 billion increase, while vital for rural electrification, leaves core generation needs underfunded,” the CS said.
Areas hardest hit by blackouts are in Nairobi, Mombasa and Western Kenya, disrupting businesses and households.
As blackouts intensify and become more frequent, Wandayi has appealed for additional funding and faster approvals to unclog stalled projects.
The CS praised the National Assembly’s Energy Committee for backing ambitious plans to expand electricity access and stabilise fuel supplies.
He called for urgent funding shifts to fast-track “low-hanging fruit” projects, such as “Last-Mile” connectivity. “No project delivers visible impact faster than this,” Wandayi said, emphasising rural electrification’s transformative potential.
“It’s low-hanging fruit that we must leverage to boost government service delivery.”
President William Ruto’s administration plans to connect 480,000 new households and 320 public facilities to the main grid. Solar power installations are planned in 14 counties, plus streetlight upgrades and biogas plant rollouts.
He urged lawmakers to support reallocating funds to accelerate the initiative, citing delayed exchequer releases as a hurdle. While the energy generation sector secured a higher budget, petroleum funding dipped slightly. The State Department of Petroleum’s allocation fell from Sh31.6 billion to Sh30.9 billion.
Wandayi praised the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) for curbing fuel price fluctuations but said field operations remain underfunded.
“We’ve stabilised fuel prices, but now we must focus on development projects,” the CS said.
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