Ground breaking ceremony at Olkaria IV project in Kenya
45 MW Olkaria I geothermal power plant, Kenya (source: bgr.bund.de)
Alexander Richter
24 Jul 2012
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Olkaria IV construction has been held in Kenya yesterday and will add 280 MW geothermal power generation capacity by 2014.
Kenya’s president presided over the ground-breaking ceremony at the Olkaria IV geothermal power plant project yesterday.
The Olkaria complex which will be the largest geothermal power plant in Africa, is expected to have an output of 430 MW (including Olkaria I, II and IV) by 2014.
There are three Olkaria plants today. Olkaria I and II produce together 115 MW and are run by KenGen and are extended to 150 MW. Olkaria III is a 48 MW developed and run by Ormat Technologies. Olkaria IV will add 280 MW to the capacity at Olkaria.
The Olkaria IV is an extension of Olkaria I and II and is expected to cost about $1.3 billion when complete.
Olkaria IV will be built in two plants each having two units (70 MW each) and generating 140 MW of power.
The steam wells for the project have already been drilled successfully and well head generators are expected to be installed and generate power as the construction continues.
Studies on the field have raised hopes that the overall capacity could be increased to 560 MW.
The Olkaria IV project is con-financed by the Kenyan government through KenGen and by a series of development partners, including KfW, World Bank, JICA, the French development agency, the European Investment Bank and others.
The project is being built by KEC of India, Toyota Tshusho of Japan, Hyundai Engineering and Sinclair Knight Merz of New Zealand.
Source: KBC
