OREANDA-NEWS. With rising power demands and the risk of city-wide blackouts, GE's Digital Energy business (NYSE: GE) has partnered with Iberdrola IngenierЁЄa y ConstrucciЁ®n (IIC) to build a 220 kV ring around the Nairobi metropolitan area (referred to as the Nairobi Ring Project) for the Kenya Electricity Transmission Co. Ltd. (KETRACO) to improve the reliability and efficiency of their grid. With much of Nairobi's power reaching the city through one established electricity path, the goal of the Nairobi Ring Project was to provide alternative electricity paths on the grid to improve power efficiency, reliability and security.

As part of the Nairobi Ring Project, IIC was contracted to build four new substations and upgrade one existing substation with GE supplying substation automation systems (SAS) for all five locations to modernize KETRACO's grid and protect and control the power flowing into Nairobi, Kenya's largest city with a population of more than 3 million people. With a growing number of industries, including many international corporations, and electricity consumers in Nairobi, KETRACO needed to increase the capacity of their high voltage transmission network to support increased electricity generation and consumption. GE's SAS solutions offer grid operators protection, control and communications systems to improve system reliability. The project also includes engineering, configuration, panels and factory and site-acceptance tests, as well as training for substation engineers to ensure reliable operation.

Ў°By working with Iberdrola I&C, we have been able to help KETRACO provide safe and reliable power to Kenya's largest city,Ў± said Luis Perez, General Manager, for GE's Digital Energy business in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Ў°GE's substation automation systems offer grid modernization technology that will ensure KETRACO has a best-in-class grid infrastructure to protect against unplanned outages.Ў±

With the introduction of new substations into their grid, KETRACO will be better able to maintain power if one of the circuits in the ring fails. Currently, with only one line, if a fault occurs it can result in major blackouts in the city.