Kenya Power has been forced to ration electricity in the wake of supply shortcomings from wind and solar plants, triggering business disruptions and costly use of diesel generators.
Joseph Siror, the managing director of Kenya Power, said that the rationing is more pronounced when wind power generation drops to near zero, creating a deficit that cannot be offset by the other plants, notably during peak evening hours.
Three wind plants, including the 310 megawatt (MW) Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, and five solar plants account for nearly a fifth of the electricity supplied to Kenya Power.
The wind and solar plants currently lack battery storage to tap electricity generated during their peak production, when wind speeds and solar radiation are highest, triggering rationing during high consumption hours between 6 pm and 10 pm.
The drops in wind and solar generation have put pressure on local geothermal and hydro plants as well as electricity imports from Uganda and Ethiopia, prompting Kenya Power to cut off some areas to shield the grid from collapse and avoid countrywide blackouts.
The forced rationing turns the spotlight on the government to speed up the push to compel all wind and solar plants to install battery storage for excess power and when demand surges in the evening.
“I can confirm that there are many instances when we have been forced to load-shed the country when the wind generation is low and this is because when you sum up all the other generation sources without wind, they cannot serve the peak demand,” Dr Siror said.
“For wind, the total is meant to be 435 megawatts (MW), but by virtue of it being intermittent, there are instances when the total wind generation is near zero.”
Rationing forces businesses to seek alternative power sources or scale down operations, underscoring its adverse impact on the economy.
Kenya Power rations electricity to avoid a trip of the network or blackouts triggered by an imbalance in supply and demand.
Wind is the third-biggest source of power to the national grid, accounting for 13 percent or 1,013.43 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of the 7,807.07GWh supplied to Kenya Power between July and December 2025.
Lake Turkana Wind Power Project is the biggest wind generator and supplied 10 percent or 773.40GWh between July and December last year, followed by Kipeto Wind Farm with 213.72GWh or 2.75 percent.
Alten Kenya Solar, Malindi Solar, Selenkei Solar Farm, Garissa Solar and Cedate supplied a combined 227.64GWh (2.94 percent) in the review period.
“When you look at our grid, 435MW comes from wind and 210MW from solar, but when it comes to the peak hours, all solar plants are out in the evening when the demand is up and we need them,” Dr Siror said.
He added that the State must adopt the required legal and policy changes that will compel all wind and solar power plants to have battery storage.
In 2023, the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum revealed a plan compelling all new wind and solar plants to include battery storage in their project to be considered for any power purchase agreement (PPA) with Kenya Power.
Globeleq, the British firm that owns Malindi Solar, announced plans to spend about Sh4.6 billion to set up a battery storage for its 52MW-hour plant in the Coast region.
KenGen is also planning to set up a battery storage of about 500MW-hour for its plants by 2030.
Battery storage will ensure that Kenya Power can tap the electricity generated when the wind speeds and insolation were at optimum, helping avoid the current scenario of forced rationing.
Inability to tap wind and solar plants during the peak demand hours has since forced Kenya Power to ramp up electricity imports from Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania to ensure near-normal supplies.
Official data shows that between July and December last year, Kenya Power imported 766.48GWh from Ethiopia, accounting for 9.88 percent of the total supplies, followed by Uganda at 2.11 percent (163.67GWh).
The imports have been critical in averting increased use of the expensive and dirty thermal plants during peak demand. Consumers have in the past been hit with high power bills due to increased usage of thermal electricity.
But the imports have since 2023 helped to significantly reduce the share of thermal power in the national grid, keeping a lid on power bills and ensuring that Kenya does not plunge into blackouts due to a supply deficit.
