KenGen launches tender for Olkaria VII Power Plant feasibility study

Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has launched tender the feasibility study of the Olkaria VII geothermal power plant.

Olkaria VII geothermal power plant will be built at the Olkaria geothermal complex in Nakuru County in western Kenya. The feasibility study should provide several key data for the project, including the capacity of the future steam plant. However, KenGen expects the capacity to be between 83 MWe and 140 MWe. Application deadline is 17^th November 2022.

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Olkaria geothermal

The Olkaria geothermal site houses several steam plants. Recently completed work has added a 6th unit to the Olkaria I geothermal power plant with a capacity of 83.3 MWe. Construction took a few months, followed by a production test period which started in April 2022. KenGen contracted Marubeni Corporation to build Olkaria I unit 6. The Tokyo, Japan-based company has teamed up with its compatriot Fuji Electric Global to supply and install the turbine in the steam plant.

With the implementation of this project, KenGen should enable Kenya to increase the share of geothermal energy in the electricity mix. In 2020, the East African country had an installed capacity of 2,840 MW, of which 863.1 MWe (30.4%) was generated by geothermal plants.