Kenya was hit by a near nationwide blackout following a series of transmission line failures.
The incident began late on Monday 10 January, but the main outage occurred the following morning, following the collapse of the high voltage Kiambere-Embakasi transmission power line, which connects the capital city Nairobi to the Kiambere hydroelectric dam.
It was Kenya’s third national blackout in just four years.
Kenya Power, the country’s sole electricity distributor, appeared to have the issue under control by the afternoon. However, a further fault later hit the Suswa-Embakasi high-voltage line, affecting large swathes of the country.
— The Kenya Power & Lighting Company Plc. (@KenyaPower) January 12, 2022
Kenya experienced a similar nationwide outage in May 2020 after a line carrying power from the Olkaria geothermal plants malfunctioned.
While only in December, large parts of the country were forced into rationing electricity due to a section of the Loyaingalani-Suswa power line collapsing.
