- Kenya Electricity Generating Co (KenGen) announced yesterday that 79 MW generation capacity has been added to the national grid from a new geothermal plant
- The Olkaria V plant in Kenya’s Rift Valley has been under construction since 2017. Synchronization to the grid started on the 28th June 2019 with the culmination of its first unit reaching its full design output this week.
- The remaining 79MW making up a total of 158 MW is expected to be connected at the end of August 2019.
KenGen said the extra output from the first unit of Olkaria V will bring its total installed capacity from geothermal sources to 612MW.
KenGen, 70 percent owned by the government, has a total installed capacity of 1,693 MW and said last year it planned to add another 1,745 megawatts (MW) of electricity from geothermal sources by 2025.
Kenya has an installed generating capacity of 2,370 MW and peak demand of about 1,770MW. KenGen, which is 70 per cent owned by the Government, has an installed capacity of 1,631MW of which 70% comes from renewable sources. Demand for electricity is growing at about eight per cent a year, according to the World Bank’s data.
Kenya recently entered into an agreement to provide Ethiopia with geothermal drilling services. Read more
Related news: Court Stops 1050MW Lamu Coal Project in Kenya
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
