Green Energy
TWENTY SIXTEEN. No twenty Fourteen. Twenty sixteen is the year by when Kenya's electricity supply will be boosted by an estimated 1432MW from clean energy sources, including wind power and geothermal. And the cost of energy will decline by nearly 10 US cents.
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- Kenya To Concession Geothermal Power Generation
A geothermal Plant at Ol Karia in kenya KENYA, AFRICA'S geothermal power giant, has changed its business plan in order to speed up geothermal power generation. The new plan involved separating the drilling function from the generation function....
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- Kenyan Wind Farm, Africa’s Largest, To Produce Lowest Cost Electricity
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Green Energy
Twenty sixteen
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| Geothermal steam wells. Coming to the rescue |
But twenty fourteen is also significant. That is when these sources will begin coming on stream. The players in this sector are going full steam to beat the target time.
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| AWind Turbine: A clean energy generator |
The players include; Geothermal Development Corporation (GDC); Kenya Electricity generating Company (KenGen) and Lake Turkana wind power project. Both KenGen and GDC are wholly government owned. Lake Turkana wind power ltd is a privately owned company whose goal is to generate some 300MW into the national grid from wind power.
GDC was set to spearhead the development of geothermal power. Kenya is said to have a capacity to generate 10,000MW of electricity from geothermal sources. GDC expects to have developed some 5500MW by 2030. Its initial output will be 400MW to come on stream in 2016. GDC develops the steam wells for concessioning to private power producers.
KenGen on the other hand, the only power generator in the country expects to add some 1832 MW into the national grid by 2016 from various sources including Hydro, Thermal Geothermal and even coal.
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| Hydro electric Dam; Taking a back seat |
In short, by 2016 Kengen will double its current capacity to 3000MW of which geothermal will the dominant source generating 882MW; Hydro at 820 MW; coal 600MW; wind 62 MW. The viability of a 150MW windfarm is being studied at Marsabit Country. There is also potential for a 400MW import from Ethiopia and another 300MW LNG import from Tanzania.
But before 2016, another magical year for power generation in this country is 2014. That is the years some of the on-going projects are expected to start generating power into the national grid.
Last week, KenGen Commissioned the construction of a 280MW project at OL Karia IV that will completed in 2014. Lake Turkana wind project expects to produce some 90 MW by 2013 and be fully operation by 2014.
This is to say that by 2016, Kenya’s power supply is expected to stand at 3700MW of which renewable sources will contribute 1582 MW. Hydro will generate 820MW while other sources will generate the rest.
Going by the geothermal and wind energy prices, Kenyans have every reason to look forward to 2016 when energy price will shrink significantly. The price per kilowatt hour is fixed at six US to eight cents which is more than half the current price of 16 US cents a Kwh.
Currently for every dollar worth of expenditure on power, the cost of fossil fuel used to generate thermal power takes 35 per cent, energy consumption stands at 52.7 per cent, forex charge 5 per cent taxes take 2.7 per cent other charges take 2.8 per cent. From this analysis, fuel index is a large contributor to power costs in the country. In fact, at 35 per cent, it is very low. Depending on the cost of crude in the world market, Fuel index sometimes rises up to 70 per cent of the total bill.
Now come 2016 and much of the thermal power Capacity will be retired reducing the cost of power by between 35 and 70 per cent. Looked differently, a dollar will buy more power in 2017 than it does now. That is why Kenyans look to the year with great optimism. It will setr them free of the tyranny of high electricity bills.
Apart from low bills, the entry of renewable sources of energy will mean the end of power outages caused by rationing. That will mean cheap and efficient production of goods and services in the country.
Apart from low bills, the entry of renewable sources of energy will mean the end of power outages caused by rationing. That will mean cheap and efficient production of goods and services in the country.
- Solar To Grab Bigger Slice Of Kenya's Clean Energy Pie
By Maina WaruruNAIROBI, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenya is moving to boost its solar energy capacity, with a new plant now under construction aiming to start producing electricity for the national grid by January 2016.This heralds a shift...
- Kenya To Concession Geothermal Power Generation
A geothermal Plant at Ol Karia in kenya KENYA, AFRICA'S geothermal power giant, has changed its business plan in order to speed up geothermal power generation. The new plan involved separating the drilling function from the generation function....
- Africa’s Largest Wind Project Still Steaming On
A wind power farm: LWTP steamingonTHE LAKE TURKANA Wind power project, Africa’s largest wind power farm is on course. However, it is running behind schedule because guarantee from the World Bank are yet to be granted, investigations by this publication...
- Toshiba Dips Toes Into African Lava: New Geothermal Plant To Go Online In 2014
Toshiba has been tapped to supply equipment for Kenya’s newest geothermal power generation project. The company will supply geothermal steam turbines and generators early next year, which will go online in April 2014. Once the new power plant is active,...
- Kenyan Wind Farm, Africa’s Largest, To Produce Lowest Cost Electricity
Famous in anthropological circles as the site of some of the earliest hominid remains, northern Kenya’s Lake Turkana is set to be the site of Africa’s largest wind farm. Project plans call for a total of 365 wind turbines to be built there, generating...