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KenGen plans 14 temporary well head plants in two years

KenGen plans 14 temporary well head plants in two years Wellhead geothermal plant by Green Energy Group on location with KenGen in Olkaria, Kenya (source: Green Energy Group)
Alexander Richter 23 Nov 2012

Kenya's KenGen is planning to build 14 well head geothermal power plants with a combined power generation capacity of 65 MW over the next two years to speed up delivery of geothermal power to the electricity mix of Kenya.

KenGen in Kenya is planning to build 14 temporary well head geothermal power plants with a combined capacity of 65 MW within the next two years.

The plants, as reported prior, are to be built by Green Energy Group.

A pilot plant has been operating since January 2012, with the first of the 14 plants having started construction earlier this week.

Construction of a typical geothermal plant takes between four to 10 years, but portable plants commonly known as wellheads take about six months.
The development of cheaper plants means that the country will come to rely less on thermal power, prone to the vagaries of high international prices; and rain-fed hydroelectric dams.

“First, it will allow early generation to give Kenyans power quickly before putting up conventional plants that take eight to 10 years to implement,” Eddy Njoroge, KenGen’s managing director said in a statement. “In this way, we are able to meet current supply-demand needs as we invest to safeguard future supply.”

Geothermal Development Company (GDC), formed in July 2009 to spearhead exploration of geothermal steam, earlier said it would sell steam to KenGen, which will in turn use wellhead generators instead of a conventional power plant, to convert it into power.

Wellhead generators enable producers to make electricity as soon as a well is operational, instead of waiting to put up a power plant, which normally would take about five years.

“With this concept, in the next two years, we should be able to generate 200MW before even the main power plant has come on line and that way we should be able to do away with emergency power that we have been using whenever we have poor hydrology,” GDC managing director Silas Simiyu  said in an earlier interview.

It costs $0.18 (Sh15.30) per kWh to produce electricity using medium speed diesel and about $0.07 (Sh5.95) per unit from geothermal, says GDC.

GDC plans to drill at least 300 other wells in the next four years, which it will hand over to independent power producers.

Source: Daily Nation

Disclaimer: The Author works for Green Energy Group