Commissioning tests have resumed at Kengen’s Olkaria V power plant after a brief disruption over the weekend. Activity at the power plant was put on hold on Friday evening after an incident at the station left 10 workers with injuries. Although some unverified reports state that steam pipes burst which led to the injuries, Kengen’s official statement attributes the injuries to a stampede among the workers.
“The incident occurred on Friday, July 12th, 2019 at about 4 pm, while the team was preparing one of the units in order to step up power from 43MW to 65MW. The incident occurred after the operation of high-pressure safety safeguards. The safety system operated as designed but in the process, this triggered a stampede among the workers in the vicinity, some of who sustained injuries and were rushed to hospital in Naivasha,” read the statement by Kengen.
As per the report by the energy company, 9 employees were treated and discharged while one is undergoing treatment at a Nairobi Hospital.
The power plant, which is in its last stages of construction, was commissioned by President Uhuru Kenyatta in April 2017 and cost KSh40 billion to put up. The plant is expected to add 165MW to the national grid once it is fully operationalized.
