Kenya’s largest energy producer announces $920 million geothermal project

The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), the African nation’s prime energy producer, has accumulated loans totaling $920 million for the construction of a 280 megawatt (MW) geothermal power plant.

“We have just accessed some $920 million concessionary funding for a 280 MW geothermal project,” said KernGen’s Managing Director, Edward Njoroge at an energy conference in Cameroon yesterday.

However, Njoroge refrained from discussing at the conference the origin of the related loans. According to Reuters, Njoroge has previously stated that the funding for the project would be provided by KenGen, the state, the World Bank, KfW, the European Investment bank (EIB), the Japan International Corporation Agency and the French Development Agency (AFD).

The KenGen facility is expected to be fully operational from 2014 at a cost of $1 billion, and will be an extension of the existing Olkaria I and II plants, which produce 115 MW of power, under the name of Olkaria IV.

By tapping into the vast reserves of steam energy in the country’s Rift Valley, the African nation became the first to drill for geothermal power.
By 2030, Kenya is targeting to produce as much as 5,000 MW of geothermal power.