Fuji Electric confirms 70-MW geothermal order in Kenya

Fuji Electric Co Ltd (TYO:6504) has won a contract to supply a new 70-MW geothermal unit at the Olkaria I power plant in Kenya, the Japanese company said on Wednesday.

The contract came from Japanese trading firm Marubeni Corp (TYO:8002) which last month announced that is had secured a full turnkey contract for the construction of the geothermal facility in Nakuru County. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) deal was awarded to Marubeni by state-owned power producer Kenya Electricity Generating Co Ltd, known as KenGen.

This is Fuji Electric’s first geothermal power plant project in Africa. It will supply the major equipment for the project, including steam turbines and generators, according to Marubeni's announcement in Augus.

The Olkaria I facility is Kenya’s first geothermal power station and one of the largest in Africa. It currently runs five turbines with a combined capacity of 185 MW. Marubeni and Fuji will build for KenGen a sixth power generation unit, funded through an official development assistance (ODA) loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The expected year of commercial operation is 2021.

Under its long-term development programme -- Kenya Vision 2030, the Kenyan government has set a target to expand its geothermal power capacity to 5,000 MW by 2030.

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