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Kenya Electricity Generation Company (KenGen), Kenya’s largest power producer, has said that it has appointed an adviser to help it find a buyer for 19 per cent of the Kenyan government’s stake, reducing the government’s holding from 70 per cent to 51 per cent.
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Eddy Njorge, Managing Director of KenGen, said: “We want to privatise. The plan is for the state’s holding in the company to shrink to 51 per cent from 70 per cent after a buyer is found, while public investors would continue to own 30 per cent.” The company’s market value is around $500 million. KenGen’s shares rose 1.2 per cent on the announcement.
KenGen aims to almost triple its installed capacity to 3000 MW by 2018, and to 9000 MW by 2030, mainly through exploiting geothermal resources and building wind farms.
KenGen currently has 1055 MW of generation capacity, consisting mainly of hydropower, with 150 MW of geothermal as well as diesel-powered generators (147 MW) and a single wind farm of 350 kW. IPPs account for 22 per cent of installed capacity in the country. Peak demand in Kenya currently stands at 1107 MW.
Njoroge said that to pay for the geothermal expansion, KenGen will require $4.5 billion through 2019, of which $1 billion has already been secured from five funding agencies.
Kenya introduced power rationing for almost two months last year amid a drought that cut output from hydropower plants. Industries faced daily power cuts, and electricity bills rose as diesel-powered generators were deployed, damping economic growth.