Olkaria V: Huge Boost as KenGen adds 165MW to NG

With KenGen pumping an extra 165MW of electricity to the national grid. Kenya is on the way to meet the obligations outlined by United Nations's Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)  Number 7. SDG No. 7 urges states to eliminate the use of non-renewable energy by promoting the access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy. In the address to the media at Olkaria and a delegation of MPs and senior government officers from Uganda which had been hosted by KenGen at Naivasha, Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter reassured investors that the government was keen to replace thermal generated power by gradually replacing it with geothermal.

We are privileged to have hosted a high-level delegation comprising of Uganda’s Cabinet Minister of Energy accompanied by representatives of the ministry as well as Uganda Electricity Generating Company Ltd in Olkaria earlier today. #UgandaInOlkaria pic.twitter.com/QDmed7DrCd

— KenGenKenya (@KenGenKenya) March 3, 2020

KenGen, Africa's top geothermal generating company, Olkaria V power plant will be commissioned in April a month after its completion. According to the CS for Energy Charles Keter, the two units of the plant currently under trial were generating a total of 165MW. Nonetheless, albeit it is cheaper to generate geothermal energy as compared to electrical energy, consumers will have to wait for cheap electricity. “Ahead of its commissioning Olkaria V is already producing 165 MW but the process of bringing down the cost of electricity will take longer,”  stated Mr Charles Keter. The Energy CS also added that the government was keen to exploit more geothermal power from Naivasha adding that plans for the construction of Olkaria VI were underway. “The evaluation process for the new Olkaria VI 140MW geothermal power plant is complete and we are now going into tendering process,” he said. With regards to the Last Mile connectivity project,  Mr Charles Keter asserted that 75 percent of the country could now access electricity and plans had been formulated such as to make electricity accessible to all regions by 2022. “We have a lot of financial support from donors on this project with the government keen to meet the universal access to electricity,” he said. He noted that currently Kenya was receiving 50 MW of hydro-power from Uganda at subsidized rates adding that they were keen to partner in terms of power generation. Uganda Minister for Energy and Mineral Development Dr Mary Goreti Kitutu said that her country was keen to learn about geothermal exploration. She stated that her country mostly relied on hydro-power although the southern parts of Uganda had the potential of producing geothermal energy. She was full of praise for gains made by Kengen in geothermal power production adding that in future Uganda would seek expertise and human capacity from KenGen. “Kenya has made huge strides in power production and whenever we need experts in geothermal production we shall definitely seek support from Kengen instead of going for foreigners,” she said.