Kenya Power will double electricity imports from Ethiopia to 400 megawatts (MW) from December 2026 as it moves to bridge a widening gap between rising demand and local generation. The utility currently imports up to 200MW under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) signed with Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) in 2022 at a price of $0.065 (6.5 US cents) per kilowatt-hour (kWh). "We are taking up an additional 200 megawatts in December, at the same price. The 200 megawatts that Kenya is going to buy from Ethiopia from December will bridge the generation and supply gap," Kenya Power General Manager for Network Management David Syengo told the Business Daily. Under the revised arrangement, Kenya Power will import up to 400MW during peak demand periods and reduce uptake to 150MW during offpeak hours. The current agreement allows imports of 200MW at peak times and 65MW during off-peak periods. The move comes as electricity demand continues to outpace domestic supply. Kenya's peak demand hit a record 2,439MW in December 2025, fuelled by rising industrial activity, urbanisation and increased household connections. The country's highest demand occurs daily between 7pm and 9pm, when the grid comes under the greatest pressure. Although domestic electricity generation reached 3.45 billion kilowatt-hours in early 2026, consumption grew even faster, rising nine percent year-on-year. Kenya has increasingly relied on Ethiopian imports to stabilise the grid, importing 1,274.42 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in the year ended June 2025. The additional imports have made Ethiopia the country's third-largest source of electricity, supplying 9.88 percent of Kenya Power's energy mix, behind KenGen and Lake Turkana Wind Power. The availability of relatively cheap hydropower from Ethiopia, largely generated by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), has helped Kenya meet rising electricity demand while limiting pressure on consumer power tariffs. (ICE NAIROBI)

Fonte notizia: Business Daily