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KenGen considering direct sale of electricity to industrial customers

KenGen considering direct sale of electricity to industrial customers Olkaria geothermal plant, Naivasha, Kenya (source: Lydur Skulason, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 2 Mar 2016

KenGen is considering to sell geothermal electricity directly to industrial customers at its planned Naivasha Industrial Park in an effort to boost its revenues.

Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) is considering the sale of electricity directly. This would circumvent the current set-up where KenGen sells electricity it produces over Kenya Power.

KenGen is considering this step to provide electricity directly to industrial customers in a step to grow its revenues. The company is also planning the development of an additional 720 MW of geothermal power generation capacity at an estimated cost of $2 billion by 2020.

 

“It (direct power sales) will probably take some couple of years because there’s still some work there,” KenGen’s director for corporate and regulatory affairs Simon Ngure told an investor briefing in Nairobi yesterday. “Nevertheless, within the next three months or so, we are going to put out our application because we had to wait for some data to come in so that we can make application to the regulatory commission.”

He said a consultant undertaking a study on the planned business strategy is expected to hand over the final report in two months, after which company will seek approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission.

The plan is largely targeting the proposed Naivasha Industrial Park, where Industrialisation and Enterprise Development ministry will be seeking to attract large manufacturers by selling electricity at half the market price.”

 

Source: The Star