Drilling works at the Akiira geothermal site in the Rift Valley, western Kenya is set to resume following a greenlight to continue work given to its owner Akiira Geothermal Company by the local population.
The Akiira Geothermal Project, is a landmark power project in the East African power sector with plans to develop a 140MW geothermal power plant. The Project represents one of the few greenfield geothermal power projects in the East African region that is being developed as a privately financed independent power project (“IPP”), and it extends Kenya’s innovation in the geothermal power space.
Clean, green energy to Kenya’s grid
The Project will deliver clean, green energy to Kenya’s grid at a price significantly lower than Kenya’s alternative sources of base-load energy, heavy fuel oil (“HFO”) generation. The Project is on-track to be the first in what will be a series of geothermal power projects developed under a private geothermal exploration/exploitation license held by Marine Power Generation Limited (“MPG”), who are also one of the shareholders of Akiira Geothermal Limited (“AGL”).
The Akiira Geothermal Area is under the Marine Power Generation (MPG) concession area and plans to develop 140MWe in two phases of 70 MWe each. The electrical power output will be sold to Kenya Power Ltd under a 25 year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) through a power grid to be connected to the Suswa substation.
Development of the MPG geothermal field is expected to contribute immensely to bridging the gap in Kenya’s rapidly increasing demand for power and transform the country into a competitive clean energy economy. The proponent shall contribute to reduction of the frequency of the power outages that are crippling the economy at present. As part of the overall strategy, the proposed MPG geothermal project, being a green energy project, will also contribute to earnings from carbon credits as it goes heavy on clean power generation
