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{
"id": 1240394,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1240394/?format=api",
"text_counter": 617,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Davis Chirchir",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum",
"speaker": null,
"content": "per cent of energy coming from geothermal sources, which is green and environmentally friendly. But more importantly, Olkaria is one of the biggest sites in the world, where there is a unit of up to about 700 megawatts of geothermal power coming out of the same location. That power does not reach various ends of the county. Those of us who come from Western parts of Kenya, like Hon. Nabwera, do not get enough voltage. For people like us from Bomet, Kericho, Kisii Migori and all the way to Awendo, the voltage is not enough to power industries, leave alone our homes in the evening. We have got funding from the Government of Korea to the tune of Ksh15 billion together with local funding to connect Bomet-Narok, the link which has not been done. That way, we will be able to evacuate more power. We have enough power in Olkaria, but it does not reach Western Kenya because of that short un-connected link. Once the link is done and the link from Chemosit to Kapkwen in Bomet has been done, we should be able to evacuate power all the way to Bomet, Kericho, Kisii, Migori and Awendo towns. That project should be starting in a short while. We should be able to retire Muhoroni Power Plant, which is one of the most expensive diesel power plants in the country, but which is necessary for managing those voltages. I could almost say with certainty that Muhoroni Power Plant, which is run by KenGen, should be retired in the next two years maximum. That is as soon as we finish the connection to the western part of the country so that we can take more of the geothermal power there. Hon. Ferdinand Wanyonyi of Kwanza asked who pays for the floodlights. The county government pays for them. We will endeavour to ensure that we provide more of those floodlights in market centres to ensure that we have a working economy. Most of our vegetable vendors sell in the evening because we need to buy fresh vegetables and we can only do that if the markets are lit. We will continue to provide floodlights and the country Government will pay. The Member for Chesumei Constituency asked about funding reprieve for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). We have taken that up to make sure that in the Kenya Power data base, if not already captured, we capture the disability status of customers and be able to give them the reprieve accordingly. I had answered the question by Hon. Ali Raso before he came in. During the vetting, he asked me what we are doing for Marsabit. We have funding, and I confirm that there is a project which will pick power from River Loyangalani to Marsabit, and from Marsabit to Isiolo. We can go up to Garbatulla in Garissa, and possibly go North. But for now, the funding is available to Marsabit and down to Isiolo. We should be able to provide power to the people of Marsabit, who give us 310 megawatts of wind power. Hon. Maryanne Kitany of Aldai asked about optimisation. We will continue to work together on that maximisation, as I indicated earlier. I will send a schedule to all the Hon. Members of this House. I am here with the CEO of REREC, Mr. Peter Mbugua. I am sure that he has heard the interest with which the Hon. Members of this House have to ensure that our country is connected. The question by the Member for Samburu North, Hon. Lesuuda, was that they are not on the grid. In areas like Baragoi, we are going to work more on hybridisation. What we will do to basically support the more difficult areas where the grid cannot get immediately would be to work on a diesel generator together with a solar plant or a wind firm through the KOSAP mini grid. We should be able to do more for Samburu to ensure that they are on the grid. You may be aware that the Energy Act, 2019 opened up the market, and we should be able to see other firms building grids similar to Kenya Power. Some of those mini-grids will grow to build inter-connection capacity with some of the companies that we license to own the mini-grids while we manage the tariffs, so that even if one is on a mini-grid, one still pays the same tariff as the customers who are on the grid. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}