The 30-year contract will enable new transmission infrastructure in a country that expects a peak load power demand spike of 21,075 MW by 2033 from 1,606 MW reported in 2013, with the first major project set near Nairobi.
Positioned within Manda Bay along the Kenyan coastline, the project’s strategic location at the intersection of major shipping routes is expected to boost regional trade and economic growth.
The Ethiopia-Kenya Power Systems Interconnection Project—the first phase of eastern Africa’s $1.3-billion power integration initiative—is set for takeoff after the World Bank approved $684 million in construction funds for the project in June, even as global environmental groups step up pressure to halt the work.
Kenya and landlocked South Sudan have signed a $1.5-billion deal for the construction of a new 1,260-kilometer oil pipeline linking Juba and the Indian Ocean port town of Lamu, where the former country has launched a multibillion port expansion plan that includes an oil refinery with a capacity 120,000 barrels per day, or bpd.
Kenya's largest geothermal power project has broken ground, with Japan's Toyota Tsusho Corp. and South Korea's Hyundai Engineering serving as the prime contractor.
