Kenya has moved up to position eight on the global ranking of largest geothermal power producers. It follows the completion the first unit of Olkaria V project.
In a statement released on Tuesday 30th July, KenGen’s Managing Director Rebecca Miano said, “We are delighted to announce the completion of the first unit of the Olkaria V geothermal power plant and subsequently injecting 79 megawatts to the national grid”.
Commenting on the milestone, Mrs. Miano said the Olkaria V unit brings to 612 megawatts the total amount of installed geothermal power capacity by KenGen. Geothermal power (612MW) complements other power sources such as hydro (819.9 MW), thermal (253.5 MW), and wind (25.5 MW).
The unit 1 of Olkaria V was first synchronized into the grid on 28th of June 2019 and has been subjected to commissioning tests and taken through a series of load tests until it attained its full design output of 82.7MW. The additional 82.7 megawatts from the project pushes Kenya to position 8 globally above Iceland and Japan.
Connection to the national grid is consistent with Kenya’s long term plan on increasing renewable energy to provide affordable energy to Kenyans while safeguarding the environment. The project meets Kenya power needs through continuous use of green energy solutions thus supporting the Big Four Agenda and the Vision 2030.
Olkaria V geothermal power plant is expected to add a total of 158MW to the grid once Unit 2 is synchronized to the grid at the end of August.
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