Renewable

December 5 (Renewables Now) - Kenya’s state-owned power producer KenGen on Tuesday launched the construction of a 83.3-MW geothermal plant within the Olkaria geothermal field.

The Olkaria 1 Unit 6 facility in Naivasha will be an extension of the Olkaria I unit 4 and 5 plants that were commissioned recently. The ground-breaking ceremony for the project was attended by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, KenGen said in a Twitter post.

The 83-MW plant is expected to be completed in 2021. Funds for its implementation will be sourced from remaining debt facilities from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the European Investment Bank.

KenGen says on its website it has 31 power generating facilities with a combined capacity of 1,631 MW, including geothermal, hydropower, wind and thermal power plants. Reuters reported previously that the utility plans to add 1,745 MW of geothermal capacity by 2025 in line with the government’s efforts to put an end to power generation from fossil fuels.