The governments of Tanzania and Kenya have completed and energised the 510km 400kV power transmission line linking the two countries, which will allow them to exchange power as well as import energy from other countries interconnected to the power grid.

The line has a transfer capacity of 2GW and will be connected to the existing Ethiopia-Kenya interconnector through the 400kV Isinya-Suswa line, making it part of the Eastern Africa Electricity Highway. As such, it will be the major link for power transfer between the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) and countries in North Africa, such as Sudan and Egypt.

The 400kV Kenya-Tanzania Interconnector has been successfully energized! The synchronization of the two electricity grids has been done today, marking a significant step towards power integration. 

Financed by @AfDB_Group & Gok. #EAPPPowerTrade2024 #RegionalIntegration pic.twitter.com/iEiwfv0IES

— KETRACO (@KETRACO1) December 13, 2024

In Tanzania, the work involved building a 414km double-circuit line running from Singida in the central region through Babati and Arusha to the border town of Namanga, along with construction of a 400kV substation in Arusha and extension of the 220/33kV Singida substation.

The work was undertaken in lots and the contractors were France’s Bouygues Energy and Services, India’s Kalpataru Power Transmission and a team of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Energoinvest and India’s EMC.

In addition, four 400kV substations were built in the towns of Iringa, Dodoma, Singida and Shinyanga and rural electrification works were carried out, under which about 80km of 33kV lines and low-voltage systems were constructed, including customer connections.

In Kenya, North China Power Engineering Company built a 96km double-circuit line from the Isinya substation to the border at Namanga. The project included rural electrification works consisting of 147km of 33kV line, 34 transformers and consumer connections.

The total project cost is estimated at US$309.3 million, with funding provided by the African Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the two governments.

In addition to facilitating the exchange of power between the two countries, the Kenya-Tanzania interconnector will enable Tanzania to import hydropower from Ethiopia via the Ethiopia-Kenya line. Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (Tanesco) plans to purchase 100MW from Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP), which is set to increase to 200MW over the next three years.

To facilitate this power trade, Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) and Tanesco have signed a wheeling arrangement that allows Ketraco to earn revenue for providing the transmission service.

The Ethiopia-Kenya-Tanzania (EKT) arrangement will be the first wheeling transaction within the EAPP, which has agreed to officially begin cross border transmission and trade in other energy platforms from March 2025.

The announcement was made by EAPP member nations at a ministerial conference held in Kenya in early December 2024. The move is expected to benefit more than 620 million people.

The EKT deal is expected to serve as a case study for developing the EAPP power market transmission pricing methodology, set for early 2025.

The EAPP was established in 2005 by seven East African countries, namely Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Sudan. Following this, the EAPP was adopted as a specialised institution to foster power system interconnectivity by the heads of states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region. Tanzania, Libya, Uganda, South Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti have since joined the power pool.

Ketraco managing director John Mativo said the Kenya-Tanzania line would enhance access to cheap electricity through the EAPP by economic merit order dispatch. He also said the line would facilitate power exchange between Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania as well as the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) through the Tanzania-Zambia (Taza) interconnector project, which has been seeing progress of late.

The Taza scheme aims to harness Tanzania’s strategic location at the boundary of the EAPP and SAPP to facilitate power exchange between the two markets, connect underserved areas in southwest Tanzania, as well as increase the transmission capacity in Northern Zambia.

The interconnection and synchronisation of the EAPP and SAPP is expected to create the largest geographic energy market in the world, running from Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt.

The work in Tanzania involves building 620km of 400kV double-circuit transmission lines, starting in Iringa and running through Kisada and Mbeya to Tunduma and continuing from Tunduma to Sumbawanga to link the Tanzanian northwest grid to the interconnector with Zambia. From the Tunduma substation, a 4km 330 kV line will run to the Zambian border, completing the connection with the Zambian grid.

The project includes substation works and has been awarded in lots to contractors including China’s TBEA Company, Sinohydro Corporation and India’s Transrail Lighting. Commissioning of the transmission line is expected by October 2025 and the substations by May 2026.

The Tanzania portion of the interconnector has a cost of US$605 million and is being financed by the World Bank, French development agency AFDD, the EU and the government.

Meanwhile, Zambia’s portion of the Taza interconnector is being reviewed by the World Bank for the commitment of US$292 million of funding and is expected to be presented to the board of directors on 21 January.

According to an updated environmental and social management plan published in November 2024, the World Bank has agreed in principle to provide the majority of the financing for the scheme, with smaller contributions expected from the EU and the UK government.

The project involves constructing a 608km transmission line running from Pensulo in central Zambia through Mpika and Kasama to Nakonde on the border with Tanzania.

The proposed scope includes a 186km 330kV single-circuit line from Pensulo to Mpika and associated substation extension works at Pensulo and Mpika; a 200km 330kV single-circuit line from Mpika to Kasama and associated substation extension works at Mpika and Kasama; a 212km 330kV double-circuit line from Kasama to Nakonde; a 15km 400kV (charged at 330kV) double-circuit line from Nakonde to the Tanzanian border; a 12km 132kV double-circuit line from Isoka to Nakonde (loop in and out of 66kV Isoka-Nakonde line); and a new Nakonde 330/132/66kV substation.

A general procurement notice was published in October 2024 by Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (Zesco), the project implementing agency, and can be viewed here.

The Taza transmission line is also envisaged to enable power evacuation infrastructure for the proposed Kalungwishi River and Lufubu River hydropower projects in Zambia, with a total of over 300MW in installed capacity.

The EAPP-SAPP interconnection will also facilitate the development of the North-South Power Transmission Corridor, a project aligned with the African Union’s Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA). The proposed 8,000km line runs from Egypt through Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe to South Africa.

Top photo: Ethiopia-Kenya Interconnector line (Source: Facebook @ Ketraco)