Kenyan GDC invites proposals for 90 MW of geothermal capacity

Aug 6, 2013 - Kenya's state-owned Geothermal Development Company (GDC) on Monday invited bids for the construction of three 30-MW geothermal plants in the African country.

The company, which is in charge of the country's geothermal capacity expansion scheme, said on Monday the winning parties will finance, design, build, test and commission the facilities. The plants are scheduled for completion by the end of next year. The developers will also be required to operate and maintain the systems on a 25-year build, own, operate (BOO) basis.

The 90-MW tender is part of the 400-MW phase 1 Menengai geothermal scheme, planned to be switched on by 2016/2017. The tender will close on September 16, GDC said.

At present, Kenya has 14 rigs operating in several geothermal fields. It will need to install 15 more rigs and to drill continuously in the coming 17 years to reach its 2030 target of 5 GW, according to Energy Ministry estimates from earlier this summer. At the end of June the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) committed to provide a KES-1.6-billion (USD 18m/EUR 14m) grant and technical assistance to the Kenyan government to support its geothermal programme.

(KES 10 = USD 0.114/EUR 0.086)

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