Kenya: Interconnection developments

Spain’s Abengoa on 14 May announced the signing of a €32m ($41m) engineering, procurement and construction contract with the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) to build a 132km transmission line and extend the Lessos substation in Kenya. The contract is being financed by the African Development Bank and is part of a project to interconnect the grids of the Nile Equatorial Lakes (NEL) countries that will involve the construction of 769km of transmission line in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Abengoa will connect Lessos to the Tororo substation in Uganda. Commissioning is expected in 18 months with handover to Ketraco in November 2014.