IDO: Kenya's north generates power it is not allowed to use
Despite hosting massive wind and geothermal power projects, many northern Kenyan counties suffer from extremely low electricity access. High-voltage transmission lines pass through these regions to serve other areas, highlighting a deliberate policy gap in rural electrification.
Why it matters
The article exposes the socioeconomic disparity in energy distribution, where resource-rich regions are bypassed by national infrastructure projects.
In the year to June last year, Kenya used 14,472 gigawatt hours of electricity and produced 12,938 /FILE
Switch on a light in Nairobi tonight and there is a fair chance the electricity was born in a desert. It travelled 428km down a high-voltage line from Loiyangalani in Marsabit, where 365 turbines churn out one of the most reliable wind corridors on earth.
Africa's largest wind farm is in Laisamis constituency, where household electricity access is 1.3 per cent, and in neighbouring North Horr it is one per cent.
The inequality is stark, though not for want of effort. Power does reach the north, and Kenya leads the region in off-grid solar, but supply thins sharply beyond the key towns’ boundaries.
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