Kenya has announced plans to build a power distribution station at Sussewa to be used for the transmission of power from Ethiopia. The distribution station will be used for the onward transmission of power from the Walaita Soddo sub-station in Ethiopia under the deal signed between the two countries in 2011.
The project is being covered by loans from the World Bank and the African Development Bank. The World Bank is providing US$684 million while the remaining US$348 million is being provided by the African Development Bank.
Once the 1,045 kilometre transmission power line between the two countries is complete in 2018, Kenya will be able to import cheap power from Ethiopia. Ethiopia is to supply Kenya with 400MWs of power annually.
The Ethiopia-Kenya Power interconnector marks the first phase of a regional project, the $1.3 billion Eastern Electricity Highway Project aiming to establish regional integration of a power transmission network to connect all the East African countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo.