Steamfield for 280 MW of development completed for Olkaria IV, Kenya
Work on pipes at Olkaria, Kenya (source: flickr/ lydurs, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
3 Jan 2014
The development of the steamfield for a 280 MW development at Olkaria, Kenya has been completed, as reported by Kenya Electricity Generation Company (KenGen).
AS reported this morning from Kenya, the development of the steamfield for the development of up to 280 MW of geothermal power plants at Olkaria, Kenya has been completed. The drilling and installation was funded by the World Bank, with drilling provided by Chinese company Sinopec (Great Wall Drilling).
“The steam field development done by Sinopec International begun work at Olkaria in Naivasha in April 2012 and entailed installation of a pipeline system to collect steam from various wells, steam separators as well as steam field control system.
The total piping system installation is 40 kilometres and includes various pipe sizes of up to 42 inches radius.
“The work of steam field development is complete, pipes have been laid and also fixed to the power station,” said the Senior Communications Officer for Kengen, Kaara Wainaina.
The project had been predicted to take up to 20 months but has taken a slightly lesser time than that.
The laying of the pipes and the entire steam field development was the last major milestone in construction of the 280 MW geothermal project that will pump a further 25 percent of current capacity to the national grid and this is expected to happen mid this year.
Wainaina expressed optimism on the adherence of this schedule saying everything was working according to plan.
The Olkaria geothermal power plant puts the power generator on a green energy path, with geothermal expected to provide half of electricity needs of the country by 2018.”
Source: AllAfrica
