- KenGen’s unit 6 of the Olkaria I geothermal power plant is now operational.
- The new facility injects 83.3 MWe into Kenya Power’s electricity grid.
Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has announced that the Olkaria I geothermal power plant’s Unit 6 is now operational. The company had completed the production tests on the new geothermal power plant with a capacity of 83.3MWe.
Construction took several months, and production testing began in April 2022. KenGen contracted Marubeni Corporation to construct Olkaria I Unit 6. Fuji Electric Global supplied and installed the turbine in the steam plant.
The energy generated will be supplied to the Kenyan national power grid. According to KenGen, geothermal power now makes up 39% of its total installed generation capacity. The new unit is set to increase the plant’s capacity to 796MWe. As a result, geothermal energy is second only to hydroelectricity in the country’s energy mix. Kenya has a cumulative installed generation capacity of 2,819MW.