Remedies to Load Shedding in Kenya

17th Nov 2025.

Remedies to Load Shedding in Kenya
Kenya is currently experiencing daily load shedding due to insufficient electricity generation, particularly between 5 PM and 10 PM , where electricity supply is rationed to prevent system overloads. This happens because the peak demand is high the active power generation capacity.
Load shedding affects many businesses which depend on constant power for their 24/7 operations
President William Ruto, while in Qatar, confirmed that load shedding was being done to balance the limited power supply with the growing demand, especially during peak evening hours. The country’s electricity generation capacity is struggling to meet the increasing needs of both residential and industrial consumers, leading to scheduled outages in various regions.
With the power demand exceeding the total generation capacity, the grid becomes so unstable that any slight fault on one of the turbines, often leads to nationwide or regional power outage as experienced before.
Causes of Loading Shedding.
1. Increased Demand
The demand for electricity has surged, with the population growth in urban centres. The government estimates that to industrialize effectively, Kenya needs a minimum of 10,000 MW of energy.
2. Insufficient Power Generation
Kenya’s installed electricity capacity is currently around 3,235.5 MW, but the peak demand has reached approximately 3,158 MW. This gap necessitates load shedding to maintain grid stability.
The generators cannot operate at 100% and due to the low energy output, the demand often surpasses the power generated.
3. Freeze on Power Purchase Agreements.
There has been a freeze on new power purchase agreements (PPAs) since 2018, limiting the addition of new energy sources to the grid. So demand is increasing with little increase in energy generators
4. Aging Energy Infrastructure.
Apart from the Geothermal Power plants which are new developments, kenya has lagged behind in developing other sources of energy like hydros. Infact, our Hydro Electric Power Stations are old with aging infrastructure.

Remedies.
The solution to Kenyas load Shedding depend on how well we understand the Country’s Energy Mix ad what needs to be utilized at what time of the day. As a country we are lagging behind in terms of Energy development that should meet the ever increasing Power demand.
Energy demand continues to rise, and with industrialization, its expected to grow exponentially over the next few years.
A county whose Energy Agencies like KPLC, KenGen make a cumulative profit of ksh 30 billions a year and still experiencing power outage, only shows that we haven’t gotten it right in formulating clear policies and roadmap needed to drive the country to attain Energy Sufficient state.
The following are some of the remedies this country needs to look into for us to achieve Energy efficient state
1. Correct Energy Mix
The country is currently driven by two major sources
a. Geothermal
b. Hydros



With the country receiving adequate sun for 7 hours in most parts of the country throughout the year, a Mix of geothermal/wind/Solar can drive the country through the day as we reduce the power generation from the hydros.
The power sector has around 3.3 GW of installed generation capacity, of which 950 MW is from geothermal, over 800 MW from hydropower and almost 800 MW from wind and solar combined.
Doubling installed capacity of Wind/Solar from 800 megaWatts to 1.5 gigawatts (1500 MW) will ensure that the countrys economy is run on Geothermal, wind and Solar mix during the day, while Hydros+Geothermal+Wind supply the required power to meet the peak demand during the evening. Thermal generators are only used to stabilise the grid due to their increased flexibility.
While Hydros work 24 hours, their capacity can be increased so that they are able to generate over 1.5 Megawatts for few hours esepcially during the peak hours. So, instead of generating 700 MegaWatts for 24 hours, they can be designed to generate 1500 MW for 5 hours during peak hours and are made to run at the lowest level during the day when Solat/Wind/Geothermal are supplying full power.
With this mix, water will be conserved during the offpeak hours and utilised during the peak hours. During rainy seasons, water is avialbe to run the turbines for extended hours.

2. Water Heaters
Water heaters are one of the contributors of high demands from 5 pm to 10 am. An instant shower is rated 4.5 kw, though ran for few minutes, require high power to run. One instant shower rated 4.5 kw consumes power equivalent of 90 Led TV of 42 inches rated at 50 watts. Therefore, the government should sensitize on the need to have solar water heaters replace the conventional instant showers. This will reduce the peak demand by a considerable percentage. Instant showers, though highly power rated, also work for a very short time and this put high constraint on the grid, which has to be designed to carry high loads for a very short period of time. Solar water heaters will ensure this constraint is lowered and heating water for a very short time is also decreased.
The Solar Water Heater Law needs to be re-introduced so that facilities that used hot water system to incorporate solar water heaters to assist in heating water.

3. Allow Power Purchase Agreements.
Kenya is still energy deficient nation that it should not freeze new installations that can aide in reducing the stress on the grid.
PPAs also help in decentralization of energy generation which further reduces the power o
Losses on transmission line.
A 200 kilowatts installed in Busia will mean that the energy is consumed in that region hence reduces the amount of energy transmitted from the generating stations located hundreds of kilometers away.
The cost of these PPAs need to be done openly and at the best interest of our nation, so that they don’t end up selling a unit of power more expensive than what KenGen sells power at.

4. Upgrade of Energy Infrastructure
Kenya still uses the old hydro Electric turbines with minimal upgrades apart from overhaul. Upgrade on existing generators to a high power generators is necessary to meet the increasing demand. Also new power generating stations need to be evaluated to meet future demands.

Eng. Victor Okuna,
Electrical & Energy Engineer,
Greenex Engineering Ltd
vokuna@greenexenergy.co.ke