A blame game has emerged between Kenya Power and Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) over the nationwide blackout that plunged the country into darkness on Friday.

LTWP has denied any role in the power outage, discounting the statement issued by the utility firm attributing the blackout to the loss of 270 megawatts generated by the wind project.

The Director DCI Mohamed Amin (left) Kenya Power managing director Joseph Siror. (Photo:DCI).
The Director DCI Mohamed Amin (left) Kenya Power managing director Joseph Siror. (Photo:DCI).

LTWP says it was forced to switch off its supply to the main lines following an overvoltage in the national grid system to avoid extreme damage to power infrastructure.

“Lake Turkana Wind Power wishes to assert that it has not caused the current power outage. LTWP was forced to go offline and stop generation following an overvoltage situation in the national grid system, which to avoid extreme damage, caused the wind power plant to automatically switch off,” said LTWP in a statement on Saturday.

Kenya Power said on Saturday that the outage was triggered by the loss of 270MW from the wind project, which resulted in an imbalance in the power system, tripping all other main generation units and stations, leading to a total outage on the grid.

“The system demand at the time was 1,855.8MW and therefore, a loss of approximately 15 percent of generation was expected to cause a widespread power outage,” said Kenya Power.

However, the wind project argued that this loss would have been immediately compensated for by other power generators in the system.

Electricity has so far been restored to most parts of the country.

news@businessdayafrica.org