Kenya Plans to Add 4,700 Megawatts of Geothermal Power by 2030

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The managing director of state-controlled Kenya Electricity Generation Company (KenGen) (Nairobi, Kenya), Eddy Njoroge, said that peak demand in the country had grown to 1,200 megawatts (MW) in 2011 and is expected to hit 15,000 MW by 2030. "To meet growing demand, the country needs to install about 15,000 MW, a third of which will probably come from geothermal energy over the next 20 years," he said. KenGen supplies 80% of the country's power.

These remarks highlight the changing profile of the meaning of "power demand" in developing countries. Demand has often been used to describe the ability of nominal installed power capacity in a country to supply a restricted and static distribution network. It has not meant the actual national demand from a country's households and commercial and industrial enterprises.

Kenya is now focusing on the power sector's ability to supply electricity to its population and business and industrial enterprises. Expanding and securing power supply is a key element in national and regional development in the country.

Kenya, with a population of 41 million people, has a relatively minimal installed power base of 1,200 MW but is targeting an exponential increase in over the next 20 years. This is a story repeated all over the African continent.

Kenya is aiming to install 4,700 MW of geothermal-sourced power over the next 20 years and is now working on a plan to finance geothermal exploration by issuing asset-backed securities. If these plans are cleared by regulators and the government, the bonds could be traded as early as 2012.

The state's Geothermal Development Company (GDC) (Nairobi) estimates that the total unexploited geothermal resources in the country ranges from 7,000 to 10,000 MW at 14 high-potential locations.

Currently, 19 companies, including international majors, are bidding to develop eight 100-MW geothermal projects at Bogoria-Silali in northwest Kenya. GDC intends to select different companies to build each plant with the backing of investors, which include the World Bank. Construction of the plants is set to begin in January 2012 and be completed in 2017 with an overall investment of $31 billion, said GDC.

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