Kenya electricity imports from Uganda and Ethiopia has surged significantly by 76.7% in the first nine months of the year amounting to a record 1137.84 million kilowatts hours. The increase highlights Kenya’s growing reliance on regional power interconnection to meet it’s electricity demand. Driven by factors such as reduced domestic power generation capacity especially from hydro-power due to unfavourable weather conditions.

Ethiopia’s power export to Kenya have grown particularly due to the operatiolization of the Ethiopia Kenya power transmission line which facilitates the import of cheaper hydroelectric from the grand Ethiopian renaissance Dam. While Uganda remains main supplier leveraging it’s surplus generation capacity from hydro-power.

This trend demonstrates importance of regional energy trade in stabilizing electricity supply and diversifying sources particularly fur countries like kenya where demands continues to outstrip local generation capacity.