Kenya Power inks geothermal, hydro PPAs for 76 MW

Kenya Power announced on Wednesday it has sealed off-take contracts for 76 MW of capacity from newly-developed geothermal and hydroelectric facilities.

Kenya’s national electricity distributor has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Akiira Geothermal Ltd tied to the latter’s 70-MW geothermal power project in Kajiado. Under the terms of the contract, Akiira will be selling the output of the plant to Kenya Power at USD 9.23 (EUR 8.31) per kWh.

In addition, the utility has agreed to buy 6 MW of electricity from a mini hydro project in Embu currently being developed by Kleen Energy Ltd. The price per kWh agreed under that contract is USD 9.20.

“These partnerships and generation projects are crucial towards meeting our goal to reach 70% connectivity by 2017 and universal access by 2020,” said Ben Chumo, Kenya Power’s managing director and CEO. Recently, the utility signed a 100-MW wind PPA with Kipeto Power Ltd.

At present, Kenya’s installed generation capacity amounts to 2,298 MW, with geothermal and hydro accounting for 46.4% and 38.1% shares, respectively.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.900)

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