Residents of the Hulugho sub-county in Garissa County will now enjoy electricity connectivity thanks to efforts made by the government through the Ministry of Energy; who installed a 275KVA power supply and connectivity project.
The Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC) has connected Hulugho town, which lies 17 kilometers from the Kenya–Somalia border, in a historic move which seeks to empower residents economically.
The project was officially commissioned by Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter who was accompanied by REREC CEO, CPA Peter Mbugua. The CS was also accompanied by the Garissa Senator Abdulkadir Haji, Ijara Member of Parliament Sophia Abdi Noor, among other local leaders.
Speaking during the event, the CS noted that the government was intentional in connecting 14 arid and semi-arid areas to electricity and had already set aside 15 billion shillings in order to complete that task.
Garissa County will receive Ksh.1.2 billion towards that venture which will mainly be used for constructing hybrid mini grids which will use solar energy and diesel powered machines to generate electricity
The Hulugho Power Station will serve over 110 customers including seven public facilities among them, a police station, 5 schools and a health centre. The project is aimed at ensuring that the area enjoys stable and reliable power.
Education performance for the connected schools is expected to improve as the students are able to conduct evening studies more conveniently. The schools will also be able to effectively implement the Government’s digital learning program.
The community will also enjoy improved health care because the connected health facility will now be able to high energy consuming equipment which they were not able to operate before.
The rural electrification programme begun in 2007 and the focus of the Corporation was electrification of rural areas through grid extension and diesel power stations.
Off-grid electrification provided by diesel generators was one of the first and most applicable solutions for the electrification of rural villages. In this regard, the Corporation has installed twenty diesel power stations to electrify off-grid areas; one of them being the Hulugho Diesel Power Station.
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