Kenya to convert oil plants to LNG in climate-friendly grid push

Kenya has announced plans to retire or convert heavy fuel oil-fired power plants to use liquefied natural gas by 2030 as the nation pursues a cleaner energy path to a 100% climate-friendly grid.

State-owned Kenya Electricity Generating Co.,(KenGen) made the announcement and said they are conducting a feasibility study on reconfiguring the thermal power plants that currently account for about 7% of the grid load.

“The move is part of the East African nation’s target to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. We won’t be using heavy fuel oil anymore. The idea is that those thermal power plants (with contracts) going beyond 2030 will be converted to use LNG,” said Isaac Kiva, renewable energy secretary at the Energy Ministry.

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Thermal designs

The plan seeks to consolidate Kenya’s position as a leader in clean energy, with 90% of its grid already renewable, and is in line with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s push for investment in a sector that’s based on expensive technology. Africa has suffered the brunt of climate change, despite producing less than 5% of the world’s greenhouse gases – and efforts to cope are constrained by inadequate funding.

Kenya produces more than 40% of the electricity on its national network from the underground steam. Hydropower contributes a quarter of the power on the grid, while wind sources account for almost 22% and solar 1.3%, according to a September report by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, or EPRA.

Some thermal plants were designed to use heavy fuel oil and LNG, making it easy to switch, according to Kiva. Kenya expects to get gas from Tanzania once a planned pipeline is built. The government is also ramping up production from renewable sources and is on course to add to the grid at least 300 megawatts of clean power by the end of December, according to the energy regulator. KenGen plans to add more than 730MW of geothermal power or double the electricity it produces from underground steam, probably by the end of 2026.