Kenya to ramp up geothermal and solar generation

• 11 years ago (2012-11-17)
• Junior Isles

Renewables 757

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Kenya’s biggest power company Kenya Electricity Generating Co. (KEGC), has said it intends to reduce hydropower’s share of total generation to less than 50 per cent, as geothermal production increases over two years.

The Nairobi based company aims to provide 280 MW of electricity from its Olkaria IV geothermal plant by 2014, reducing hydro’s share from 60 per cent to 45 per cent, Managing Director Eddy Njoroge said.

“We will have achieved our goal of a stable, reliable supply of power which is not dependent on the vagaries of weather,” Njoroge said.

Kenya is already Africa’s largest producer of geothermal power with installed capacity of 212 MW. Kenya has an installed electricity capacity of 1600 MW, and a peak power demand of 1500 MW which is growing at an average of 8 per cent a year.

KEGC also plans to begin building its first solar power plants next year, aiming to produce as much as 150 MW of electricity at a cost of about $300 million, Njoroge said.

“The plan is to start with about 10 MW of solar [PV] connected to the grid… we are also looking at about 20 MW of… concentrated solar power,” Njoroge continued.