Kenya’s electricity imports from Ethiopia rose dramatically in 2023 as Addis Ababa became the largest source of outside power supplier for the East African nation, according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
Kenya imported 668.07 million kilowatt-hour (KWh) of power from Ethiopia last year, up from only 12.61 million kWh in 2022, the KNBS said in a new report released Monday.
According to the KNBS, Kenya imported a total of 917.8 million KWh in 2023, almost three-fourths from Ethiopia.
The rest came from Uganda, which initially was Kenya’s main source of power imports.
Kenya embraced Ethiopia because of its cheap hydroelectric power, according to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA).
To facilitate the power imports, Kenya built a 500kV interconnector line linking the two neighboring countries.
Kenya’s electricity consumers in 2023 stood at over 9.2 million, about half a million more than in 2022, according to Kenya Power, the country’s main electricity distributor.
The country’s peak demand averages 2,057 megawatts (MW) while the available capacity is 2,035MW, the EPRA said.
