Geothermal power is very cost-effective in the Great Rift Valley of

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

. , Kenya has 690 MW of installed geothermal capacity. Kenya was the first African country to build

geothermal energy Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pres ...

sources. The

Kenya Electricity Generating Company Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC abbreviated to KenGen, is a government enterprise in the Republic of Kenya charged with the production of electricity for the country. KenGen is the largest electric power producer in Kenya, generating ...

, which is 74% state-owned, has built three plants to exploit the

Olkaria The Olkaria Area is a region located immediately to the south of Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Africa. It is geothermally active and is being used to generate clean electric power. The region has an estimated potential of 2,000 ...

geothermal resource, Olkaria I (185 MW), Olkaria II (105 MW) and Olkaria IV (140 MW), Olkaria V (160 MW), 75 MW Wellhead generation plants, with a third private plant Olkaria III (139 MW). Additionally, a pilot wellhead plant of 2.5 MW has been commissioned at Eburru and two small scale plants have been built by the Oserian Development Company to power their rose farm facilities with a total of 4 MW. Currently, the exploration of geothermal wells in Kenya as well as sale of geothermal steam to the Kenya Electricity Generating Company and Independent Power Producers for the purpose of electricity generation is undertaken by the

Geothermal Development Company The Geothermal Development Company (GDC) is a wholly owned parastatal of the Government of Kenya. It is mandated to execute surface geothermal development, including prospecting for, drilling, harnessing and selling geothermal energy to electri ...

Future Development Goals

By 2030 Kenya aims to have 5,530 MW of geothermal power or 51% of total capacity. This will make it Kenya's largest source of clean energy by 2030. Geothermal power plants have a prominent place in Kenya's overarching development plans. These include the Vision 2030, the NCCAP, and the current ‘5000+ MW in 40 months initiative’. Geothermal power has the potential to provide reliable, cost-competitive, baseload power with a small

carbon footprint A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...

, and reduces vulnerability to climate by diversifying power supply away from hydropower, which currently provides the majority of Kenya's electricity. Kenya has set out ambitious targets for geothermal energy. It aims to expand its geothermal power production capacity to 5,000 MW by 2030, with a medium-term target of installing 1,887 MW by 2017. Although there is significant political will and ambition, reaching these ambitious goals is a major challenge. The Kenyan Government's plan to increase geothermal energy production to over 5,000 MW by 2030 is part of ''

Kenya Vision 2030 Kenya Vision 2030 ( Swahili: ''Ruwaza ya Kenya 2030'') is the country's development programme from 2008 to 2030. It was launched on 10 June 2008 by President Mwai Kibaki. Its objective is to help transform Kenya into a "newly industrializing, m ...

,'' which highlights the country's ambition to become a middle-income country by 2030. As part of its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Eastern Africa, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed to invest $95 million in geothermal power projects across the region. The

plans to drilling a total of 630 geothermal steam production wells which will be drilled, developed and completed by 2017 at

(80),

Menengai Menengai Crater is a massive shield volcano with one of the biggest calderas in the world, in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. It is the largest volcano caldera in Kenya and the second largest volcano caldera in Africa. Volcanic formed rich loam so ...

Phase 1(120),

Phase 2 (210), and Silali-Bogoria Phase 1(210).

References

External links

KenGen

Renewable Energy Portal (Kenya)Ministry of Energy and Petroleum (Kenya)Energy Regulatory Commission (Kenya)Geothermal Development Company (Kenya)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geothermal power in Kenya

Future Development Goals

See also

References

External links