Kenya, Uganda Hit By Nationwide Power Blackout

Kenya and Uganda have been hit by a power blackout after what distributor Kenya Power said was a system disturbance in the transmission grid.

Teams from Kenya Power and Uganda’s power Distributor Umeme announced on Twitter that efforts to restore power were already underway.

The neighbouring countries’ grids are interconnected.

Kenya Power said power went off at 5:49 a.m. (0249 GMT).

“Our engineers are working to identify and address the hitch, towards restoring normal electricity supply,” it said in a statement.

Already the firm has restored power to certain parts of the country.

Kenya Power indicated that it had identified a technical fault at a section of the main high voltage transmission power line  that evacuates power from the Olkaria geothermal power plants to Nairobi.

“An electricity conductor came off the support insulators and clashed on the towers,” the firm said in a statement.

Uganda also suffered a nationwide blackout, Uganda Electricity Transmission Co. Ltd said on its Twitter account.

“We have lost transmission across the nation … please bear with us as we investigate the cause and work on restoration,” it said.

In January 2018, both countries suffered major blackouts due to what they said were system disturbances.