|
|
|
|
National Tree Day Planet Ark Home
|
|
|
||
|
Kenya May Need Emergency Generators Due to Drought |
||
|
Mail this story to a friend | Printer friendly version
|
||
| KENYA: January 30, 2006 | ||
|
NAIROBI - Kenya may procure emergency power genarators to cover an expected electricity supply shortfall brought on by declining water levels in the main power generation dams due to drought, the energy ministry said.
|
||
|
Kenya is facing one of its worst droughts in recent years with millions facing hunger. At least several dozen people and thousands of livestock have died, and the government says four million people are facing hunger. The ministry of energy said it expects the electricity shortfall to vary between 87 megawatts to 177 MW between March 2006 and June 2007 if the long-rains season of March-May fails. "In the event of delay in the commissioning of emergency power generators there might be need for power rationing," the ministry said in documents obtained by Reuters on Friday. The expected fall in power supply and possibility of rationing have been cited by analysts as a major factor that has dampened economic growth prospects for 2006. Kenya suffered serious power rationing in 2000 which severely undermined economic activity. The bulk of Kenya's electricity is produced through hydro dams run by the Kenya Electricity Generating Company. Hydro power generation accounted for about 53.5 percent by December 2005, followed by thermal at 28.6 percent and geothermal 17 percent. The government said its neighbours were also facing power shortfalls with Uganda and Rwanda procuring emergency plants while Tanzania has announced plans to ration power.
|
||
|
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
|
||
|
||
|
Enter your keywords to search our news archive by subject. Type "Greenpeace", for example, into the box below and you will be given a listing of all Planet Ark's news and images relating to Greenpeace. |
||
|
|
||
|
Alternatively, why not check out our news archive on an issue by issue basis? Select a topic from the list below to learn everything you need to know about the topics contained within this search engine. |
||
|
|
||
|
