Kenya Power turns to Underground Cabling

Last Updated 14 years ago by Kenya Engineer

Kenya Power will spend Ksh20 billion to oversee converting of all the overhead power lines to the underground cables in the major cities; Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa. The move comes at a time when the country is undergoing major infrastructural revolutions. The project will involve laying a total of 645km of 11kilo volts lines and 1,570km low voltage power lines underground. The high voltage lines will be laid 1metre under the ground while the low voltage ones will lay half a metre underground. Additional 1,235 pads mounted stations will be grounded in various parts of the cities.

The move follows a successful pilot project that saw  2.5km underground power cabling from a substation in the Nairobi to State House. Nairobi will have 375Km of 11Kv cabling and 930Km of low voltage cabling with 740 pad-mounted substations. Mombasa will see 200Km of 11Kv and 400Km of low voltage cabling and establish of 330 pad-mounted stations.

The Kenya Power Company which is still working on the cable designs considers the move viable and a good one since it will not only promote reliable delivery of electricity but will also see reduced power interruptions by environmental factors as well as vandalism.

“The performance of the underground system has less interference and less influence by environmental factors and has better aesthetics,” said John Njoroge, MD Kenya Power.

The Underground cables are also considered environment friendly as they remove the need for timber poles, pruning of trees to make way for lines, and reduce emissions from electromagnetic fields. This will help see the company save up to Ksh3 billion annually.

“It will have huge savings! We are talking of a saving of about Sh3billion every year,” Njoroge said.
The project could however experience some delays following concerns raised from various stakeholders in the water, roads and telecom sectors fearing interruption of service delivery. They are requesting more time in the planning phase of the project.

“Failure to share maps of infrastructure layouts among government agencies, private companies and contractors has caused for confusion when construction projects overlap or disrupt service delivery across sectors”, pointed out Nairobi Provincial Commissioner Njoroge Ndirangu during a stakeholders meeting.

Following this, Kenya Power Company has engaged players from the Nairobi City Council, Kenya Pipeline Company, Kenya Urban Roads Authority, Ministry of Energy and the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company among others in the designing of project.

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