Kenya postpones construction of Sh968 billion nuclear power plant by nine years

david nganga

September 28, 2018 7:17 PM

The earliest the country can build the nuclear plant is 2036 and not 2027 as initially planned

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Kenya has postponed its plan to build a nuclear power plant worth Sh968 billion by nine years to 2036 in favour of renewable energy projects and coal plant.

The Ministry of Energy said the earliest the country can build the nuclear plant is 2036 and not 2027 as initially planned.

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The first unit is expected to be completed in 2036, followed by another in 2037, making it the last project in the ministry’s 20-year plan for power generation expansion.

"All energy sources were considered in the system expansion planning. However, it is noteworthy that nuclear was not brought on board in both optimised and fixed MTP cases,” the updated plan reads in part.

Plan size

Likewise, the plan size has been scaled down with the two nuclear power plants expected to have a capacity of 600 megawatts (MW) each from the initial 1,000MW.

The cost of each plant has also increased from $4.05 billion to $4.84 billion.

Kenya joins South Africa, which in August cancelled plans to add 9,600 MW of nuclear power by 2030 and will instead aim to add more capacity in natural gas, wind and other energy sources.

david nganga