Kenya Power pushes on with e-mobility drive, woos foreign investors

By Victor MUJIDU

Kenya is transitioning to electronic mobility (mobility) as it seeks to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels that result in environmental harm.

At the company’s inaugural e-mobility conference, Kenya Power promised investors of an effective performance of the new grid network that promises to replace fossil fuel-powered motor systems.

Kenya Power’s acting MD Geoffrey Muli, at the forum offered that the utility firm continues to heavily invest in the expansion of the grid’s capacity and its automation to accommodate the exponential growth in demand for electricity and to improve the flexibility of the grid and, in turn, the quality of power supply.

Read: The road to e-mobility takes shape 

The firm has since invested more than Sh40 billion in grid expansion and refurbishment projects in the last five years and has achieved at least a quarter of its voltage transmission across the 47 Counties.

“Currently, the grid totals about 300,000 kilometers in circuit length of the high, medium, and low voltage networks which serve over 9.1 million customers, giving access to over 75% of the country’s population in all 47 counties,” notes the firm.

Adding that “Additionally, the country has an installed capacity-peak321MW against a peak demand of 2,132MW. During off-peak, which happens late in the night, the demand drops to about 1,100MW.”

Kenya Power Chairperson, Joy Masinde stated that the e-mobility system was a strong grid network that will support sustainable economic growth, lower transportation costs, and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Read: Kenya Power boss-ben-chumo-off-the-hook-over-sh400m-graft-charges/

“The growth of e-mobility in Kenya and the region will play an impactful role in our economy, reducing the cost of transportation for the Kenyan masses. The reduction of Green House Gas emissions, will help the environment, with Kenya doing her part in saving our planet and mitigating the effects of climate change,” she stated.

In the last two years, Ms. Masinde said that the country has witnessed increased interest from local and international stakeholders keen on investing in and developing Kenya’s e-mobility sector.

“Kenya is well positioned to embed e-mobility. If properly harnessed, this will lead to the enhancement of a formidable e-mobility economy. Kenya can have a quantum leap ahead of other markets to become the continent’s leader in research and innovation, a leader in e-mobility access, with high quality and cost-effective products,” she said.

In 2019, Kenya Power executed a pilot Electric Mobility Programme in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) by testing electric motorbikes with meter readers attached and collecting revenue in various parts of the country.

According to the company, a partnering initiative has been devised to enhance the efficient operation of the e-mobility industry for both investors and stakeholders.

“We have since established a liaison office which acts as our one-stop shop to champion the Company’s e-mobility business. Through this office, we are working with investors and stakeholders to support the development of the e- mobility ecosystem. This entails identification of sites for potential charging stations and developing requisite geo-mapping software to enable users to locate the nearest charging station,” confirmed the company.

It has set aside KShs.40 million to purchase three electric vehicles and to construct three electric vehicle-charging stations within Nairobi.

Over the next four years, approximately 2000 gasoline-powered vehicles will be phased out and replaced by electric mobility motor vehicles.

Financial performance

Kenya Power more than doubled its profit for the year to June 2022 as the electricity distributor continues to improve its efficiency.

Profit after tax rose by 134.8 percent increasing to Sh3.5 billion from Sh1.49 billion the previous year, attributing the strong financial performance to lower tax expenses, reduction in operating expenses, and taming of electricity theft.

It said the higher profit was on account of a lower tax expense, which dropped to Sh1.62 billion over the year from Sh6.71 billion in 2021.