Ethiopia’s six-month trial period for supplying 100 megawatts of electricity to Tanzania via Kenya has concluded, but a final commercial agreement covering purchase volumes, tariffs and operational terms remains under negotiation, according to Ashebir Balcha, chief executive of Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP).
Ashebir said the Tanzania trial is entirely separate from Ethiopia’s existing 200-megawatt power export arrangement with Kenya, and from plans to scale that arrangement up to 400 megawatts under a separate bilateral power purchase agreement. Moving the Tanzania arrangement from trial to long-term commercial trade requires formal agreement on supply volumes, tariffs and technical protocols, he said.
Physical capacity constraints on both the Ethiopia-Kenya transmission line and the Kenya-Tanzania interconnecting infrastructure must also be resolved before cross-border supply can expand, according to Ashebir.
On the Kenya side, supply is governed by an earlier commitment of 200 megawatts for three years before scaling up to 400 megawatts, meaning power earmarked for Tanzania cannot be diverted from Kenya’s allocated quota. A joint technical team has been set up to monitor grid stability and system readiness before any increase in flows to Kenya takes place; Ashebir declined to detail specific technical issues under review, citing the sensitivity of ongoing multilateral talks.
The wheeling arrangement was originally designed to carry 100 megawatts of Ethiopian power across Kenya’s high-voltage transmission network to northern Tanzania, part of the broader East Africa Electric Highway project linking the three countries. Kenya’s own imports from Ethiopia are underpinned by a 25-year power purchase agreement signed in 2022, transmitted via a 1,045-kilometer, $1.26 billion high-voltage interconnector financed largely by the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
