After 14 hours of the most significant power outage in recent memory, most of Kenya was getting electricity again on Saturday, according to the mainly government-owned power distributor.
The Friday night blackout, which shut down the nation’s principal international airport and affected major hospitals as well as the president’s office complex, is still not fully understood.
Near midnight, Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen issued a statement in which he expressed his “sincere regrets” for what had occurred. “There is no justification for our airport’s darkness, and there is no excuse worth reporting.”
Just a few weeks before Kenya’s government held the inaugural Africa Climate Summit, where energy will be a significant topic of discussion, there was an outage. Nearly all of Kenya’s electricity comes from renewable sources, but the more than 50-million-person nation’s infrastructure and alleged mismanagement continue to be problems.
Just before 10 p.m. on Friday, Kenya Power reported that a “system disturbance” had caused areas of the country to lose their bulk power supply. It started shortly after midnight that the Mt. Kenya region, a longtime political bastion, now had power and noted that preliminary assessments suggested a generation plant malfunction.
About 14 hours had passed when the electricity went out, according to Kenyans, making it the most prolonged blackout in recent memory. Calls to Kenya Power’s communications division were unsuccessful.
Kenya’s economy depends heavily on tourism, so stranded passengers rapidly shared pictures of the airport’s pitch-black surroundings on social media. Following the nationwide power outage, the Kenya Airports Authority reported that a generator powering the main terminal had failed to start.
Meanwhile, Kenyans woke up to discover food rotting and several backup power choices running out as they already struggled to keep up with soaring living expenses.
In May, there was the most recent nationwide power outage.
Most businesses depend directly or indirectly on power and this has caused Loss of production: Since most businesses depend on electricity for lighting, machines, and other technologies to get their work done, loss of electrical power prevents them from reaching their daily goals. When output declines, there is a loss of profit and, in certain situations, it is a significant loss.
