The Menengai I Geothermal Power Station is a

geothermal Geothermal is related to energy and may refer to: * Geothermal energy, useful energy generated and stored in the Earth * Geothermal activity, the range of natural phenomena at or near the surface, associated with release of the Earth's internal he ...

power plant under construction in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. The power station is owned and is being development by a consortium, which has formed a special vehicle company (SPV) to own, design, build, finance, operate and maintain the power station. For descriptive purposes, we will call that SPV Orpower Twenty Two (OP22).

Kenya Power and Lighting Company Kenya Power and Lighting Company, commonly referred to as Kenya Power or shortened KPLC, is a public liability company which transmits, distributes and retails electricity to customers throughout Kenya. Location KPLC headquarters are at Stima ...

, the off-taker together with OP22, the

independent power producer An independent power producer (IPP) or non-utility generator (NUG) is an entity that is not a public utility but owns facilities to generate electric power for sale to utilities and end users. NUGs may be privately held facilities, corporations ...

(IPP), plan to sign a 20-year power purchase agreement.

Location

The facility is located in the Menengai Crater, approximately , north of the city of

Nakuru Nakuru (nicknamed Nax) is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and it is the fourth largest city in Kenya and the largest in the Rift Valley region. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban population of 570, ...

, where the county headquarters relocated. This is approximately , by road, northwest of

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, the capital and largest city in Kenya. The coordinates of Menengai I Geothermal Power Station are: 0°11'53.0"S, 36°03'58.0"E (Latitude:-0.198056; Longitude:36.066111).

Overview

Geothermal Development Company (GDC), a company wholly owned by the Kenyan government drilled geothermal wells in the Menengai Crater, whose total capacity can generate up to of electric energy. GDC will sell the steam to three independent power producers (IPPs) to build three geothermal power stations, each with capacity of . The power stations are: 1. Menengai I Geothermal Power Station: Owned by Orpower Twenty Two 2. Menengai II Geothermal Power Station: Owned by Globelq and 3. Menengai III Geothermal Power Station: Owned by Sosian Energy. Menengai I Geothermal Power Station uses new geothermal technology jointly developed by Toshiba Corporation and Ormat Technologies Inc to harness more energy from the steam supplied to the plant by increasing efficiency.

Ownership

The power station is owned by a consortium (Orpower Twenty Two), whose shareholding is illustrated in the table below: Vital Capital based in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

became a shareholder in 2018, after

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Ormat Technologies Ormat Technologies, Inc. is an international company based in Reno, Nevada, United States. Ormat supplies Alternative energy, alternative and Geothermal energy, renewable geothermal energy technology. The company has built over 190 power plant ...

divested from the project in 2018.

Developments

In January 2023, Kenyan media reported that Orpower 22, the SPV company that owns and is developing this power station had secured US$97 million in funding to build this power station. The source of funding was not disclosed.

References

External links