- Globeleq has awarded Toyota Tsusho Corporation the contract to build the Menengai geothermal power plant in Kenya.
- The Japanese company will start construction in the first quarter of 2023.
The engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the geothermal power plant in western Kenya has been assigned to the Japanese business Toyota Tsusho Corporation. The project is being built by Globeleq, an independent power producer (IPP) with headquarters in London, United Kingdom, and a target installed capacity of 35 MW.
The Kenyan and British governments sponsor the construction of the steam plant, which will cost $108 million. The British government announced an investment of approximately $4 billion in Kenya on the sidelines of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) a few months ago in Egypt. A portion of this money would be used at Menengai in Nakuru, in the Rift Valley.
The African Development Bank (AfDB), the Trade and Development Bank of Eastern and Southern Africa (TDB), and a Finnish investor, Finnfund, all sponsor the Menengai geothermal project. These financial organizations have given Globeleq loans totaling $72 million. The first quarter of 2023 is when IPP intends to begin construction on its steam plant.
The steam will be purchased from Kenya’s state-owned Geothermal Development Company (GDC), which has already dug six producing wells at the project site, by Globeleq, which will manage and maintain the plant after it is put into service in 2025. A 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Kenya Power would allow the geothermal plant to feed its production (35 MWe) into the country’s electrical system. In Kenya, electricity is transmitted and distributed through this government-owned business.