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Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia to spend $1.4 bln on regional power grid

High voltage electrical pylons stand at a slum on the outskirts of Kenya's capital Nairobi, March 14, 2011. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia will spend $1.4 billion to link their power grids by 2018 and create a regional power pool for trading electricity, officials said on Friday. Southern Africa already has a series of interconnections linking countries, including South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, which allows them to trade power. The three countries will build 2,302 km of 400 kilovolt (kV) power lines and 373 km of 330 kV power lines, with each country responsible for the lines in its jurisdiction. The project will also involve the laying of a fibre optic cable along the electricity lines, officials said. Kenya plans additional installed capacity of 5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2017 from about 1,664 MW now. Neighbouring Tanzania aims to double its generation capacity to 3,000 MW by 2016. Zambia generates just over 2,200 MW of electricity and its peak demand is estimated at 1,900 MW.