Ethiopia to Double Electricity Exports to Kenya to 400 MW by December

Kenya Power renewed its supply agreement with Ethiopian Electric Power in July 2026 to double electricity imports from 200 megawatts to 400 megawatts. The additional power will reach the Kenyan grid in December 2026, easing peak demand pressure and reducing reliance on expensive thermal generation.

Cross-Border Transmission and the 400 MW Supply Expansion

Kenya and Ethiopia are deepening their cross-border energy integration under a 25-year power purchase agreement that began in 2022. Ethiopian Electric Power announced that the contracted electricity supply will expand from 200 megawatts to 400 megawatts starting in December. The energy flows through a 1,045-kilometer High Voltage Direct Current line linking Wolayta Sodo in southern Ethiopia to Suswa in central Kenya.

Completed at a cost of $1.26 billion, the transmission corridor possesses a total transfer capacity of 2,000 MW. Even with the doubled import volume, cross-border flows will utilize only one-fifth of the maximum capacity, leaving substantial headroom for future regional power trading. Destalem Hailu, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of EEP’s Transmission Business Sector, noted at a regional consultative forum in Addis Ababa that a joint technical team is overseeing testing to ensure system stability before the higher power volumes are dispatched. EEP wrote in a notice on September 16, Ethiopia plans to double power exports to Kenya from 200 MW to 400 MW, with added supply expected from December.

Surging Kenyan Energy Demand and Import Growth

The expanded import agreement arrives as Kenya confronts surging domestic consumption. Kenya Power reported selling 12,792.42 gigawatt-hours in the fiscal year ending June 2026, marking a 12.2 percent annual increase from 11,403 GWh the previous year and the utility’s sharpest consumption growth in four years. Peak power demand reached a record 2,549 MW on July 15, 2026, fueled by an expanding customer base that grew to 10.4 million following 411,710 new network connections over the past year.

Ethiopia to Double Electricity Exports to Kenya to 400 MW by December — Photo: ecofinagency.com

Electricity imports from Ethiopia rose to 1,584.45 gigawatt-hours during that same fiscal year, accounting for approximately 10 percent of Kenya Power’s total grid supply. This represents an increase from 1,268 gigawatt-hours, or 8.7 percent, the previous year. Kenya remains Ethiopia’s largest international electricity customer, outpacing Sudan and Djibouti as import volumes have expanded more than fivefold since early 2022. Kenyan payments for Ethiopian power imports reached nearly 8 billion Kenyan shillings, roughly $62 million, in the year to mid-2025 prior to the introduction of updates.

Domestic Generation Expansion and Regional Power Pools

Ethiopia’s capacity to export power stems from a sharp rise in domestic generation. EEP generated 29.5 terawatt-hours in 2024/25, a 43.1 percent increase over the previous year, supported by rapid growth in installed capacity. The country maintains an installed capacity of about 9,760 MW, including 5,150 MW from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The dam accounted for 51 percent of the country’s electricity production during the first half of Ethiopian fiscal year 2018, corresponding to 2025/26.

Despite this generation growth, domestic access challenges persist. According to the country’s National Energy Compact, 65 percent of the population had access to some form of electricity in 2025, but only 44 percent of Ethiopians had Tier 1 or higher electricity service, while 56 percent of the population lacks Tier 1 or higher electricity service. Government plans aim to extend the distribution network and reduce electricity losses to translate generation capacity into broader domestic access while simultaneously expanding export revenues.

Beyond the Kenyan bilateral arrangement, Ethiopia is supplying 100 megawatts of electricity to Tanzania on a pilot basis through Kenya, with regular commercial electricity sales expected to begin after infrastructure upgrades linking the Kenyan and Tanzanian power systems are completed. To support growing demand and improve reliability, Ethiopia is developing additional transmission lines and constructing additional substations to expand its regional export network, strengthen energy security, reduce supply constraints, and lower costs through greater interconnection.