POWERGRID and Africa50 in Joint Development Agreement

Context:

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID) has signed a Joint Development Agreement with Africa50, the pan-African infrastructure investment platform to continue to develop the Kenya Transmission Project on a public-private partnership basis.

The project entails the development, financing, construction, and operation of the 400kV Lessos – Loosuk and 220kV Kisumu – Musaga transmission lines under a public-private partnership (PPP) framework.

Once completed, the project will be the first Independent Power Transmission (IPT) in Kenya and will set a reference point in Africa as the first financing of transmission lines on a PPP basis.

This Project will also improve both the supply and reliability of power transmission in Western Kenya and further create a demonstration effect to help increase private sector investments into the expansion of Africa’s power transmission networks, which is critical to bridging the continent’s electricity access gap.

In this development partnership, POWERGRID, one of the world’s leading electric transmission utility companies will provide technical and operational know-how to the project, while Africa50 will bring its project development and finance expertise and will act as a bridge between the Kenyan government and private investors.

Power Grid Corporation of India Limitedis an Indian statutory corporation under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Power, Government of India and is headquartered in Gurugram, India and engaged mainly in transmission of bulk power across different states of India.
Power Grid transmits about 50% of the total power generated in India on its transmission network.
The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited was incorporated on 23 October 1989^]under the Companies Act, 1956 with an authorized share capital of Rs. 5,000 Crore (subsequently enhanced to Rs. 10,000 Crore in Financial Year (FY) 2007–08) as a public limited company, wholly owned by the Government of India with 51.34% stake in the company as on 31 December 2020 and as principal electric power transmission company for the country.

Source: THE HINDU.