- Globeleq and project partner, Geothermal Development Company (GDC) has started construction of the 35MW Menengai geothermal project in Nakuru County.
Globeleq’s $108 million Menengai project will be the company’s first geothermal plant. It will deliver clean, reliable and affordable baseload power to the Kenyan national grid and enable GDC to monetise the available steam resources from the Menengai steam field. Globeleq expects the Menengai project to reach Financial Close within the next two to three weeks subject to the remaining conditions precedent being fulfilled by the Government. Globeleq will operate and maintain the power plant once it reaches commercial operations in 2025.
Menengai is a greenfield geothermal project and part of the first phase of the wider Menengai complex, which is the second large-scale geothermal field being developed in Kenya after Olkaria. Steam will be supplied to the project by GDC under a 25-year project implementation and steam supply agreement. Once the plant is operational, electricity will be sold to Kenya Power, the national distribution company, under a power purchase agreement for the same timeframe. Toyota Tsusho Corporation from Japan is the EPC contractor to the project. Fuji Electric will be manufacturing and supplying the steam turbine and generator.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
