Daewoo's 600-Megawatt Project Boosts Kenya's Additional Power Target

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The $1.3 million power station to be constructed by Daewoo International (Seoul, South Korea) will be the East Africa region's largest power project.

The plant sited in Kilifi County in southeastern Kenya will be powered by 600 megawatts (MW) of coal-fired turbines.

Kenya is targeting 1,500 MW of additional power capacity by 2019, and with the country and region in a growth and development phase, power targets could see an upward revision to keep up with growth in electrification and industrial activity.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said at the signing ceremony between Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen, Nairobi) and Daewoo that the new project would boost power output toward the targets.

Earlier this year, KenGen signed a $136 million steam field development contract with Sinopec Limited (NYSE:SNP) (Beijing, China), which covers the installation of a pipeline system to collect steam at the 280-MW geothermal project in Olkaria, Naivasha. The pipeline will collect steam from wells, and the contract includes steam separators and a steam field control system. South Korean, Japanese, Indian and Australian companies are already involved in the project.

The project will supply the additional 280 MW to the grid by mid-2014 and form part of Kenya's green power drive. The target is to provide 50% of the country's power needs from green sources by 2018. A drilling program will proceed to confirm Olkaria's potential output of 520 MW.

Exploration company Geothermal Development Company (GDC) (Nairobi) also has received $120 million from the African Development Bank to continue development exploration at the Menengai crater, which is 200 kilometers southwest of the capital Nairobi. The potential for geothermal power at Menengai is estimated to be 1,600 MW, and a 400-MW plant is planned to go into operation in 2016. For related information, see October 1, 2012, article - Kenya Opens Bidding for 560 Megawatts of Geothermal Projects in Rift Valley.

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