Did you know that 55% of power generated is lost?

Last Updated 13 years ago by Kenya Engineer

By Eng. Booker Ngesa Omole

Kenya largely relies on hydro (55%), thermal (33%) and geothermal (12%). The country is exploring other sources including wind (Lake Turkana wind project), Coal (Mui basin coal project), cogeneration (34MW Mumias cogeneration plant) and biofuels. 

Drought and destruction of water towers that feed the rivers draining into the hydropower dams are widely blamed for the current power crisis. KenGen, the Kenya’s main power generator has from time to time closed its hydropower facilities while others are operating below their installed capacities.

Though Kenya experiences periodic power shortages due to natural causes, most power shortages in Kenya are due to negligence, lack of proper maintenance, accidents, vandalisms and thuggery.  For example, it has become a common thing for thieves to steal transformers. This brings about sudden power outage. The Kenya Power and Lighting Company may take 2-3 weeks to replace the stolen transformer after receiving numerous reports on the vandalism.

Major power consumers like Unilever; Finlay’s have resorted to small privately owned hydros to make them more efficient.  The long-term solution then lies in diversifying sources of electricity generation through greater use of renewable sources like geothermal, small hydro, biomass, cogeneration and wind.  However, today I would want to bring another aspect that our power problems are more social than energy infrastructure. 

It’s easier said that the current power crisis is as a result of the Kenyan government’s failure to make adequate investments in power generation, but wait a minute. Why do we lose 55% of the total power generated? Why would the ambitious plan by jubilee government to increase Kenyan installed capacity to 5000MW be more reactionary than revolutionary? Why is the campaign to eliminate Independent Power Producers (IPPs) more plastic than real?

Our peak requirement, which surpasses the installed capacity with up to 100MW, is solely dependent to domestic usage. We observe power overloads in morning when every Kenyan is awake and this increases steadily before a sharp drop at 10am. The drop can go to as low as 60MW. The base plants will still continue to generate to the full installed capacity so the difference then will be lost and this can be up to 1000MW. Look at then an extreme case where we have an installed capacity of 5000MW and our requirement at that time is just 60 MW then Kenyans would be paying for a loss of 4940MW. This is, for lack of a better word, evil.

If then this 5000MW is generated solely from base plants like solar, wind, and hydropower or even nuclear without including the peaking power plants of the IPPs then it becomes almost impossible to manage our instantaneous power requirement. The beauty with the IPPs in as much as they are heavy pollutants is that you can switch off when not required and on when you require it. Imagine an engineer trying to stop a wind turbine while the wind is blowing, or Solar when there is a scorching heat from sun, or a hydro turbine when the dam is full of water. It’s really a delegate balance of economics which the Kenyan policy makers must take notice of.

Kenyans power problems are more multifaceted and cannot be approached with the simplicity of policy announcements. It’s this mechanical approach that causes rage to the engineers’ fraternity. These quick fix announcements were popular in the 20th century of course you remember the clean water for all campaigns by 1980.  

Before we then announce populist government policies we must scientifically analyze our problems before we can attempt to suggest any solutions. It’s no rocket science, the policy makers and the political actors must then find ways to increase our base loads to almost equal to our installed generation capacity. This can be done by investment in both heavy and light industries parallel to building our power infrastructure. In a bid to normalize our power consumption patterns, then a 24-hour working economy seems to be the answer. 

Without a 24-hour economy where the difference between peak and off-peak consumption is reduced to a minimum we run our power generation plants with massive idle capacity.

Idle capacity refers to the time spent by a plant having no useful production going on. This is the difference between theoretical capacity and actual production. During periods of idle capacity, the company gains no benefit from having the equipment or paying the employees. Instead, the plant incurs a net expense during such periods. Say at midnight we have a generation capacity of 1200MW yet we only consume 200MW. The difference goes to waste.

Kenya should increase its base load and reduce the degree of consumption fluctuation to increase efficiency before seeking to increase its installed generation capacity. The government should make deliberate policy initiatives towards this end.

The government initiatives through industry and 24-hour economy can be complimented by the engineer; for example having a small infrastructure for peaking power plants and other solutions like using a turbine as water pumps for overhead tanks or irrigations schemes when you need no generation.  

About the Author:

Booker Ngesa Omole is an Energy Engineer, Private consultant and a Graduate of the  University of Nairobi with a B.Sc. Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering.