The cost of electricity in Mombasa County is set to go down following the Energy Regulatory Commission's (ERC) plans to introduce geothermal energy in the county.
ERC Renewable Energy Director Pavel Omieke, said the commission is in the process of bringing geothermal energy to the county in a move aimed at decreasing the cost of electricity.
Mr Omieke said Mombasa relies heavily on thermal energy being produced by the thermal plants in Kipevu, which is costly.
Speaking during a sensitisation workshop in Mombasa on Wednesday, Omieke said the move will lower the amount of power injected into the grid from costly thermal plants, and ultimately lower fuel cost which will also reduce the power bills.
“Generation of electricity from thermal power plants is very expensive compared to geothermal that costs about seven to eight shillings. For thermal power plants, we generate about 25 shillings per Kwh. The commission is in the process of bringing geothermal into the region so as to reduce the cost of electricity production,” said Omieke.
He added, “We are constructing the transmission line and at the moment its nearly complete. Once it is done, we will have cheap power that will enable us run less of the Kipevu thermal plants.”
Omike said that the commission is also in the process of having more greener energy generation initiatives in Mombasa such as Wind, Solar and Coal energy, so as to ensure the grid is stable in case one of the source of energy fails.