A consortium led by Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp has been awarded a $555- million contract to build a geothermal power plant in Kenya.
Mitsubishi Corp will partner with Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS), also of Japan, and Kenyan firm H Young & Co (HY) to construct a 140 MW geothermal power plant in Naivasha, some 120 km west of the capital, Nairobi.
The new plant, dubbed Olkaria V, will be the fifth in a series of geothermal power plants being built in the Olkaria area.
The turnkey contract has been awarded by Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen).
The project will be financed by an Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).
“By investing in this sector, indispensable for stimulating industrial development and improving standards of living, Mitsubishi Corp aims to continue contributing to economic growth and environmental sustainability in Kenya, while at the same time playing a role in increasing the export of high- quality infrastructure from Japan,” the company says in a statement.
Mitsubishi will supply the plant’s main equipment, while MHPS will handle in-land transport and installation.
HY, an engineering and construction company, will supply the remaining components needed for plant construction and also conduct civil engineering and installation works. The project is scheduled for completion in 2019.
Once Olkaria V has been completed, the Olkaria projects combined will supply 290 MW of power, which is more than 10% of the Kenya’s total installed capacity.
The two Japanese giants are not new in Kenya, having worked together to build geothermal power plants in the country since the 1980s. The projects on which they have partnered include Olkaria I, with a capacity of 45 MW, Olkaria II (units 1 and 2), with a capacity of 70 MW, and Olkaria III (Unit 3), with a capacity of 35 MW.
The Olkaria V project is part of Kenya’s efforts to invest in geothermal to increase electricity generation. Kenya is betting on geothermal because it is clean, affordable and sustainable and has increased generation from the resource from 45 MW to 533 MW in a span of 15 years.
Completion of Olkaria V and other projects being implemented by State-owned Geothermal Development Company over the next ten years will see Kenya become Africa’s largest producer of geothermal energy.
Kenya has the capacity to produce about 10 000 MW of electricity from steam along the great Rift Valley.