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GEG hands over geothermal wellhead pilot plant to KenGen in Kenya

GEG hands over geothermal wellhead pilot plant to KenGen in Kenya GEG Pilot Plant at Olkaria, Kenya (source: GEG/ Lydur Skulason)
Alexander Richter 15 Jan 2014

Having passed the final test, Green Energy Group has received the 2nd Acceptance Certificate for its Pilot Wellhead Plant in Kenya and has handed over the plant to the customer Kenya Electricity Generating Company.

In an announcement earlier this week, Norwegian-Icelandic Green Energy Group AS announced that the company had passed the final test after the 18th month pilot run and the customer, Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has issued the 2nd Acceptance Certificate for the plant last month.

To speed up geothermal development and bringing power online from geothermal projects earlier, Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) sought for a pilot modular wellhead solution in 2009. Green Energy Group was awarded with a contract for the construction of a 5 MW wellhead pilot plant in December 2009. Following initial challenges, the company brought the 5 MW plant online in the spring of 2012.

On November 22, 2013, KenGen issued the 2nd Acceptance Certificate after the contractual 18-month pilot run. Green Energy Group handed the plant over to the client.

“With this initial plant built by Green Energy Group AS, we have proven our modular approach and created a unique and competitive geothermal wellhead power plant solution for development of geothermal power projects with high temperature resources. Having successfully operated our pilot plant according to the customers requirements for an 18-month period, we further have proven the reliability of our plant, its components, and our engineering capabilities.”, said Terje Laugerud, Chief Executive Officer of Green Energy Group AS.

“We are currently constructing 10 additional wellhead plants for KenGen at Olkaria in Kenya, with the first two of that contract starting operations in the coming weeks”, so Laugerud.

Kenya Electricity Generating Company is the leading electric power generation company in Kenya, producing about 80 percent of electricity consumed in the country. The company utilises various sources to generate electricity ranging from hydro, geothermal, thermal and wind. The company operates two geothermal plants at Olkaria with an additional 590 MW in development.

“In general we see a large potential for our technology in markets such as Asia, East Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Indonesia alone has identified 28,100 MW of geothermal potential, making it one of the worlds largest markets for this type of energy”, Terje Laugerud, CEO of Green Energy Group AS, concludes.

Source: Company release

Disclaimer: the author works for Green Energy Group AS