Power plant lights up Uganda’s future

AN AERIAL VIEW OF BUJAGALI

THE CONTROVERSIALBujagali hydropower station in Uganda has been commissioned and is now on the grid. It loads an additional 250 MW on the national grid effectively doubling the power generationcapacity in the country. 

This development is a sigh of relief for Ugandans in several ways:  it eliminates expensive thermal power; It releases some US$9.5 million in electricity subsidies to the exchequer;  it eliminates load shedding and brightens prospects for economic growth.

 For Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, who launched the dam, it was a vindication that tenacity pays. He had the last laugh over opposition to the project!

The project Uganda was dogged by controversy, some of it crass.  Mooted in 1990s, Bujagali immediately faced all sorts of opposition from donors and their cohorts in the civil society sector-that at a time when the country experienced 12 hour loading shedding due to drought.

Ultra-Efficient Bladeless Wind Turbine Inspired by Nikolai Tesla.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/Solar-Aero-Research/Wind-Turbine/prweb2688434.htm
http://solaraero.org/
Solar Aero Research , a New Hampshire non-profit alternative energy research corporation, unveiled the proof-of-concept prototype of its revolutionary wind turbine.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=245427568895353&set=a.179472205490890.31745.178459745592136&type=3&theater

Solar Oven Makes Clean Drinking Water from Salt Water

Solar Oven Makes Clean Drinking Water from Salt Water

- Developed by an Italian graduate student, Gabrielle Diamant.
- The oven can make about 5 liters of fresh water a day.

Interested: Contact us

Wind Power Engineering

It's not much to look at, but this 500W fuel cell can power remote sensors such as sodars and lidars, and runs a month on a tank of propane. In fact, it's more efficient at higher power outputs.

http://www.windpowerengineering.com/policy/environmental/fuel-cell-powers-remote-sensors/

Toyota bids for Juba-Lamu Oil Pipeline

An oil pipeline: Bid in place for Africa's largest PPP project

TOYOTA TSUSHO, the investment arm of Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan, has bid for the construction of the US$3 billion, Juba-Lamu oil Pipeline. The pipeline will initially transport some 700,000 to one million barrels per day (bpd) of Sudanese crude to the Lamu Port in Kenya which is under construction. Eventually it is expected to transport crude from Kenya and Uganda to the Lamu port for export.

Apart from the 2000Km Pipeline, the bid also includes the construction “of an oil refinery, power stations, jetties and other infrastructure facilities” said Dennis Awori, Chairman-Toyota Kenya Ltd.

The bid, if successful, will be the largest PPP project in Africa. In a statement released this week, the company said it has proposed to develop the Pipeline on a Built-Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis on a 20 year concession.

The company is still doing a feasibility study of the project whose construction is expected to begin in June 2013. The construction is expected to last 18 months to the end of 2014.South Sudan expects to turn the tabs through Kenya come 2015. However, some analysts say that a project of this magnitude lasts three –years citing logistical and security concerns in the general area on which the pipeline is to be constructed.

Lamu-Juba Railway line: Next   in line 

Toyota Tsusho has also announced that the project could be expanded to include a pipeline to Uganda and another to Djibouti through Ethiopia. This would raise the cost of the entire project to US$5 billion. The proposal is apparently based on non-binding MOUs signed between South Sudan and Ethiopia to construct a pipeline to Djibouti through Ethiopia. South Sudan has already signed an agreement with Kenya for the construction of the 2000KM pipeline through Kenya to the Lamu Port.

Birth of Kenya's Konza Techno City is in October

Proposed Konza Technocity: Attracting serious investors

THE GROUND BREAKING CEREMONY  for Kenya’s Konza Techno City will be held in October this year, we can report.  This will pave the way for construction work on the US$7 billion project to begin.

It is expected that, after the ground breaking ceremony, work on roads, water and waste water disposal systems will be the first off the blocks. Already a Chinese government owned Construction Company, Shanghai Corporation for Foreign Economic & Technological Cooperation (SFECO) is eyeing construction of roads and other social infrastructure.

  The government is constructing a US$200 million multipurpose water dam expected to be complete by October 2013. The dam will pump one million litres of water to the city.

The proposed city has generated a lot of interest among both investors and developers a like hastening the pace of implementation. Reports have it that some 200 investors are eyeing space in the metropolis, dubbed Africa’s silicon Savannah.

Such fast pace at which the building blocks of the city’s development is being put in place has critics confounded.  In just about one month, several contractors are in place. The Master Planner, HR & A Advisors of New York is already in Place.  A Swedish government firm has bagged the tender to develop the science park and market the project among investors.

The BPO park

Also on the queue for various segments of the project are other experienced developers such as Egypt’s Smart Villages and the Korea Business Centre. The intense interest in the project is not surprising, returns on investment are mouth-watering. Return on leasing ranges between 12 and 15 per cent while capital gains rate is estimated at 20 per cent.

Konza City located only 60 KM south west of Nairobi aims to catapult Kenya into an ICT giant by 2030. It will place Kenya firmly on the competition seat with such global BPO, KPO and ITO giants as India and China. Dubbed the  silicon Savannah of Africa, Konza ICT City is a green field project that will be home of Africa's Computerisation drive–something similar to Silicon Valley in the US.

Energy giants Statoil and Exxon target East African gas

The balmy waters of the Indian Ocean, close to East Africa, are a long way from the cold and notoriously stormy North Sea, but Tanzania could soon be profitable territory for Statoil of Norway.

Statoil and its American partner Exxon Mobil have made the biggest offshore discovery yet of gas reserves off the coast of Tanzania.

The Zafarani field, which both companies hope will be bigger than first estimates suggest, is close to the region off the coast of Mozambique, where even bigger deposits of gas are being developed by Anadarko and ENI.

"This is the biggest discovery made outside Norway by Statoil ever," a delighted Statoil vice president, Tim Dodson, tells the BBC.

But beyond the impact on Statoil itself, Mr Dodson recognises how the discovery could transform the fortunes of an East African country that has in the past focused more on safari tourism than oil and gas.

"This is [also] the biggest discovery that has been made offshore Tanzania and in that respect it's extremely important for [both] Statoil and Tanzania," he says.

EAST AFRICAN WIND ENERGY

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EAWEL brings state of the art technology for renewable energy and energy efficiency in order to ease the burden on the Environment.

East African Wind Energy Ltd promises to deliver paramount services and technology to the East African Renewable Energy Sector. Our location and technologies will in no doubt spearhead Kenya as the leaders in this sector within our region..

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At long last east Africa is beginning to realise its energy potential

IN ENERGY terms, east Africa has long been the continent's poor cousin. Until last year it was thought to have no more than 6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, compared with 60 billion in west Africa and even more in the north. Since a third of the region's imports are oil-related, it has been especially vulnerable to oil shocks. The World Bank says that, after poor governance, high energy costs are the biggest drag on east Africa's economy.

All that may be about to change. Kenya, the region's biggest economy, was sent into delirium on March 26th by the announcement of a big oil strike in its wild north. A British oil firm, Tullow, now compares prospects in the Turkana region and across the border in Ethiopia to Britain's bonanza from the North Sea. More wells will now be drilled across Kenya, which also holds out hopes for offshore exploration blocs.

Olkaria II Geothermal Energy Project, Kenya

 

Sinclair Knight Merz was awarded an overall consultancy contract in 1998 as owner’s engineer and project manager for the Olkaria II Geothermal Power Project in Kenya. This involved engineering design and supervision support on five major contracts - power plant, steam field engineering, site civil works, switchyards and transmission lines. 

The Olkaria geothermal field is located in Kenya’s Rift Valley about 120 kilometres from Nairobi.  The first power plant, Olkaria I, was commissioned between 1981 and 1985, with3 x 15MW machines.  Planning for Olkaria II’s 2 x 35MW generators commenced about the same time, with most of the concept design carried out by the early 1990's, and all the wells drilled by 1993.

In the initial phase of the Project, design reviews recommended several important technical changes, with the cost being justified by use of through-life value analysis techniques. These included changing the turbine hall structure from concrete to steel, and the incorporation of more modern building materials.  Plant changes included the use of modern canned pumps in lieu of barometric sealing pits, and a change to the type of cooling tower, with this particular item resulting in a significant cost saving to the Client in terms of both the capital cost of the cooling tower and the civil works associated with a smaller footprint.

During the Review of the Steamfield, SKM identified a number of other design changes that added value to the Project.  These included:

• Revisions to the steamfield pressure control system and the addition of brine loop seals to avoid brine flashing and carry-over of solids to the turbine 
• Revision of the well-pad layout to provide adequate access for separation plant operation, along with space for maintenance and well work-overs.

For further information, contact: Sinclair Knight Merz

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. Drilling will remain in the hands of the government, while the private sector will be invited to generating power from the steam wells, through the concession mode of PPP.

 The new plan is working well and is expected to add an additional 400MW into the national grid come July 2016.  The company that was created to take over the drilling function, the Geothermal Development Corporation, GDC, a wholly government owned enterprise, plans to develop some 3000MW by 2020 and then on 5500MW in 2031, an appraisal report seen by this publication.

GDC’s role is to develop the steam wells and install the wellheads and then concession the developed wells to power producers who shall build generating stations. Previously both the drilling and the power generating functions were rolled into one. This made it impossible to attract the private sector into the geothermal power sub-sector.

The model will start at the Menengai Geothermal development Project whose first phase is currently under development. It will produce some 400MW-an estimated 26 per cent of the current national supply, by 2016 at a cost of US$502 million. The Kenya government will pick the Lion’s share of this tab at US$245 million. African Development Bank is second with a significant US$147 million while the rest will be funded by other donors including AFD, the French international co-operation agency and the European investment bank.

Kenya to host Konza technocity's investors conference

The technology Park will be a prominent feature in the city

 THE KENYA GOVERNMENT  will host the first Konza city investors conference in August. The event will bring together 500 local and international investors in a three- day conference to discuss among others, the financing models of the city. Also to be discussed will be best practice cases.

Konza Techno City aims to catapult Kenya into an ICT giant by 2030. It will place Kenya firmly on the competition seat with such global BPO, KPO and ITO giants as India and China. Dubbed the  silicon Savannah of Africa, Konza ICT City is a green field project that will be home of Africa's Computerisation drive–something similar to Silicon Valley in the US.

The CBD: an impressive Skyline in the Middle of Savannah

 The 20-year project will be developed in four five-year phases for a total estimated cost of US$7 billion. The first phase will cost an estimated US$2.3 billion of which infrastructure will cost US$1 billion. The rest will be spent on the development broken under: the ICT Park US$200 million, Residential US$975 million and the Central Business District will cost US$125 million. Each phase will last five years.

The second phase will cost an estimated US$1.7 billion of which infrastructure will cost $400million; the residential area will cost US$850 million while the CBD will cost another $100 million while the BPO will take another $300 million. The university, which shall be built at this stage, will cost some $50 million.

The third phase will cost an estimated $2.1 billion of which infrastructure will consume $600 million. The BPO will cost another $400million, CBD $300 million, Science Park $100Million and Residential $700 million.

In the final phase, BPO will cost $450 million, residential $250 million, Science park $100million while infrastructure will cost $150 million, says an analysis posted on their website, www.konzacity.co.ke. At the end of it all, infrastructure will swallow an estimated $2.1 billion while other developed will cost some $4.8 billion.

Africa’s largest wind project still steaming on

A wind power farm: LWTP steamingon

THE 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 have established.

This puts paid to  rumours that the government has poured cold water on the project. The World Bank, which is to co-guarantee the €582 million debt, has slowed down the progress on the project. This is because it came on the scene only this year and has to do some due diligence of its own before giving the nod. The other co-guarantor, the Kenya government, has already issued its letters of support.

Due to the comfort from the government’s commitment, all contracts necessary have been signed and loan documentations are in place. Among the development contracts in place include; Aldwych international will oversee construction and operations of the plant.  Vestas BV will provide the maintenance of the plant in contract with LTWP.  

The debt financing is being provided by a consortium led by the African Development Bank. Standard Bank of South Africa and Nedbank Capital of South Africa are co-arrangers.

 The power produced will be bought at a fixed price by Kenya Power (KPLC) over a 20-year period in accordance with the signed Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).  Among the contracts that are in place is a 20-year fixed price Power purchase Agreement (PPA) with Kenya Power and lighting Company, KPLC.  KPLC is the sole distributor of electric power in Kenya.

The World Bank’s commitment is expected later this year the way for the project’s roll-out.  The project is expected to roll later this year. Both the financiers and contractors are confident that the World Bank approval will be granted soon.

Lake Turkana wind Power farm, at full capacity will generate 300MW of wind power, the cheapest power in Kenya. This will be 20 power cent of the total power generated in Kenya for now.  Based in Loiyangalani in Samburu County, the Lake Turkana wind power project includes installation of 385 wind Turbines on a 40,000 hectare piece of land, the associated overhead electric grid collection system and a high voltage substation.  See related story at http://eaers.blogspot.com/2012/01/africas-largest-wind-power-farm-set-to.html

Fueling a fossil fuels glut?

NEWS ABOUT NEW FINDS OF natural gas and crude oil fields has become regular in this region this year.  Every week, we are bombarded with the good news of a new oil find inn Kenya of LNG find in Tanzania.

Our neighbours such as Uganda and South Sudan have been there before. Uganda is expected to start producing  20,000 barrels per day(bpd) soon; South Sudan has just shut down its 355,000 barrels per day wells.

News in Kenya is that the crude oil potential  exceeds expectations. In Tanzania reports of new finds of natural gas  wells are almost a weekly thing. 

We should cheer the new finds. After oil are causes for abundance elsewhere. But these news began to worry me. No I am not worried about  civil strive. I am worried about Economics of fuels: Could we be fueling a fuel glut in future? But I thought I was just letting my mind run wild until I stumbled  on a review of a paper  by a senior fellow at Harvard University, who thinks in the same lines.

He argues that new oil finds coupled with advances in extraction technologies could pump 110 million barrels per day by 2020 just when the oilfields in East Africa are expected to come on stream. At that time production could exceed demand leading low crude prices. 

Could our investment go to waste?  or are our imaginations running wild?
 Read  the review at http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/markets/item/11942-harvard-senior-fellow-peak-oil-is-history

Twenty sixteen

Geothermal steam wells. Coming to the rescue

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.

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.

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.

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.

Could Fossil Fuels pose a security risk in eastern Africa?

Guarding Crude oil Refinery in South Sudan.

SOUTH SUDAN vs.SUDAN,TANZANIA vs.MALAWI, KENYA vs SOMALIA.. There is a worrying growth of boundary disputes in eastern Africa. The quarrels, given what is at stake, pose a risk of violence in the region. The region has become significant producer fossil fuels. News of discovery of oil or LNG dominated the Pages in the first half- of this year. Visit http://eaers.blogspot.com/2012/03/eastern-africa-coast-emerging-fossil_28.html

To date, an estimated 100 trillion cubic Feet (tcf), of recoverable LNG had been discovered in Tanzania and Mozambique. Kenya for the first time joined Uganda and South Sudan in the crude oil producing class. Kenya is also seeking for LNG for it is estimated that some 286 trillion cubic feet lie off the eastern Africa coast, Kenya included.

 Sadly, the frequent discoveries are rekindling long ignored boundary disputes in the region. Previously silent disputes , such as the Tanzania- Malawi and the Kenya-Somali maritime border are becoming loud and public. Few in these countries knew of the 50 year- old disputes. To many observers in the region, the only border dispute existed between the Sudans.

This dispute was, and still is, an attempt by Sudan to sabotage the independence of the South which impoverished Sudan. At her independence last year, South Sudan took with her 75 per of Sudan's oil output, leaving with a paltry 25 per cent or 125,000 barrels per day. Khartoum then sought to sabotage Juba by raising the cost-transporting crude from the South.

Basically the dispute is about how Khartoum can plug the financial hole left by the departure of the South which turned off the taps for some 350,000 barrels of crude a day. Before the South's independence, Sudan generated some US$15-US$20 billion a year in oil revenue. The cessation of the South reduced that to just about $3.5 billion to $5.0 billion a year depending on the world market prices. Khartoum had been reduced to a pauper by just a stroke of a pen. See http://eaers.blogspot.com/2011/12/revealed-why-frequent-spats-among.html

Plans ready for 100MW thermal power by 2014

The Citizen Reporters
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s energy sector is heading for good tidings, going by the announcement issued yesterday to the effect that the country will start producing geothermal power in the near future. 

Geothermal power refers to electricity that is produced by harnessing internal heat of the earth. Further prospects of more electricity came from the launch of the board of director for a joint venture company, which seeks to produce power from coal as at the Mchuchuma and Liganga fields.

While the geothermal project targets at producing 100MW within the next two years, a foreign company, Tanzania China International Mineral Resources Limited (TCIMR), plans to produce 300MW by the year 2014. Both projects would be implemented in Mbeya Region. While TCIMR is a joint venture between National Development Corporation (NDC) and a Chinese company, Sichuan Hongda, the geothermal project would be carried out by Geothermal Power (Tanzania), a local company.

Information released in Dar es Salaam yesterday said that TCIMR plans to start exploration work after six months. While China Development Bank has provided a $2.4 billion loan for the project, the company itself has made available $600 million, making it the single largest investment venture in East Africa.Geothermal Power (Tanzania) Limited chairman Graeme Robertson told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the company has initially invested $5 million (about Sh8 billion) for the project.

Kenya turns to geothermal and wind power in a big way

A Geothermal Plant

 KENYA IS FAST WEANING itself of dependence from hydro-generated electricity to other sources of renewable sources of energy such as wind and geothermal. The shift, which has been in the making for a long time has picked up pace and, in a decade or so, hydro will be an insignificant source of electric generation.

Currently, hydro is the leading source generating a 766.88MW which forms 65 per cent of the KenGen’s installed capacity. KenGen is the power generating utility. Kenya’s generating capacity of 1400MW serves only 14 per cent of the Population. And the power is expensive.

However, the power generating company has firmly shifted its guns and is now targeting renewable sources of energy. It is now focused on developing geothermal and wind power as alternatives sources. 

A wind Power

In its current development programme which ends in 2016, the company will increase its power generating capacity by an additional 1832 MW by 2016.  Of these, Hydro will generate an additional only 53MW while wind power will generate an additional 56.8 MW, geothermal will generate an additional 732MW over the same period. Coal will produce some 600MW while an LNG project to produce 300MW is being studied. Also being studied is another wind farm based in Marsabit County in Northern Kenya that potentially can generate 150MW.

In short, by 2016 Kengen’s 3000MW generating capacity will be dominated by geothermal at 882MW; Hydro at 820 MW; coal 600MW; wind 62 MW. If the Lake Turkana wind farm is added to the grid, Kenya’s wind power capacity will approach 400MW.

Geothermal energy is the natural heat stored within the earth’s crust. The energy is manifested on the earth’s surface in the form of fumaroles, hot springs and hot and altered grounds. To extract this energy, wells are drilled to tap steam and water at high temperatures (250-350°C) and pressures (600-1200 PSI) at depths of 1-3 km. For electricity generation, the steam is piped to a turbine, which rotates a generator to produce electrical energy.

Kenya is the leader in geothermal power generation in Africa having built its first geothermal power in early 1980s. It now generates some 150MW from two geothermal plants. The first plant was the Olkaria I Power Station which was also the first in Africa. The 45 MW plant was commissioned in three phases and has three units each generating 15MW. The first unit was commissioned in June 1981, the second and third units in November 1982 and March 1985.

Olkaria II Power Station, Africa’s largest Geothermal Power Station to date was built in the year 2000 and generates 70MW. It is the second geothermal plant owned and operated by KenGen. The second phase of Olkaria II was commissioned in 2010 injecting an extra 35 MW of power making a total of 150MW of power generated by geothermal means.

Awaiting birth: energy cities in Kenya's arid lands

Pix. Vision2030 SecretariatTHEY WERE CONCEIVED AND  designed as resort cities, -sites meant to enhance Kenya’s tourism by extending the menu of products and destinations.  They are rich in tourism attractions. However, recent developments point to growth of mega cities where tourism will play a second fiddle to other economic activities.

In a bid to stem migration into the already congested cities and also to enhance and diversify tourism sector, Kenya will build several resort cities in the next couple of years. According to Kenya’s development blue print, vision 2030, the cities should be in place by 2030.

The cities will be located in Lamu,Kilifi and Kwale counties at the Coast and Isiolo and Turkana counties up country.

Conceptual designs of Isiolo and Turkana Resort Cities:
 mega cities waiting to happen

According to the web encyclopedia, Wikipedia www.wikipedia.org, a resort city is a city where tourism or vacationing is a primary component of the local culture and economy. Most resort towns have one or more actual resorts in or nearby.  That is what is expected of the resorts at Kilifi and Kwale counties.

However, the other three namely Lamu, Isiolo and Turkana resort cities appears set for bigger things. The three are located on the Lamu Port South Sudan Transport Corridor (LAPSSET). This corridor will include a standard gauge railway line from Lamu Port to Juba in South Sudan, an highway linking the same locations and an Oil pipeline from South Sudan Oil fields to the Lamu port. Seehttp://eaers.blogspot.com/2012/02/kenya-to-begin-construction-of-gateway.html

Then developments in the energy sector, changed all that, the corridor is beginning to look like the energy corridor of east Africa. For one, oil  has been discovered in Turkana and depending on whether its commercial viability is confirmed, which according to experts is fait accompli, will change this corridor into an energy corridor, say analysts. Apart from oil, Turkana is also home to Africa’s largest wind power energy project, the 300MW Lake Turkana wind Power project. Seehttp://eaers.blogspot.com/2012/01/africas-largest-wind-power-farm-set-to.html

Studies are ongoing in Isiolo to establish the viability of a proposed 150MW wind power project  while another is also on-going for a 300MW wind power project in the neighbouring  Marsabit county. See http://eaers.blogspot.com/2012/02/kenya-turns-to-geothermal-and-wind.html.

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, a quarter of Kenya’s energy supply will come from stable geothermal sources.

Kenya currently has 3 geothermal plants in the Olkaria volcanic region 60 miles northwest of Nairobi, which supply about 10% of its current electrical capacity. With equipment from Toshiba, Toyota Tsusho Corporation and Hyundai Engineering plan to bring the existing plants up to 70,000 kW each and build the Olkaria IV Geothermal Power Plant.

Stabilize That Grid!

The biggest chunk of Kenya’s current power supply comes from hydropower – nearly half, which makes it pretty green already. But as the weather is inconstant and Kenya suffers a drought, water just isn’t quite reliable enough. Geothermal power should help stabilize the grid and generate steady power supply.

The Olkaria project in part funded by a loan through the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), and is Toshiba’s first foray into the African market; its reputation for safety and reliability made it a perfect fit for the new project. Toshiba itself is hoping that the project will help boost sales of its geothermal equipment.

Source: Eco Japan | Image: Emerging Africa Fund.

Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/13KXS)

http://cleantechnica.com/2011/11/08/toshiba-dips-toes-into-african-lava-new-geothermal-plant-to-go-online-in-2014/ 

Geothermal Production in Kenya

This post was originally published on ecomagination.com and has been republished with permission.

“GDC Strikes Steam in Menengai,” exclaims the cover of this spring’s issue of Steam, the magazine of Kenya’s Geothermal Development Company. A column of steam spurts high into a deep blue sky in the cover photo—the geothermal industry’s equivalent of the black column that spurts from a successful oil well.

But steam is even more valuable than oil, at least to Kenya, which aims to produce 5,000 megawatts of power from geothermal energy by 2030.

“Power from geothermal is a sure means of improving our people’s way of life,” says Stephen Kalonzo Nusyoka, the Vice President of Kenya.

Geothermal is the only alternative energy source that is currently cost-competitive with fossil fuels [Editor's note: that's highly debatable -- see this wind power page and this solar power article and this solar power page. -ZS]. One analysis even says that geothermal is cheaper to produce: 3.6 cents per kilowatt-hour as compared to 5.5 cents per kilowatt-hour for coal.

However, that analysis does not account for two things: the cost of financing geothermal projects and the cost of exploration—actually finding the steam. In Kenya, and across the world, both costs can be high. But a cadre of determined individuals are working to overcome those challenges and unlock what they believe will be the engine of economic growth for East Africa.

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 enough clean, renewable, grid-connected electrical power to meet more than 20% of the country’s electricity needs. On top of that, the electricity will be sold to national utility Kenya Power for 20 years at 7.52 euro cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) (~9.9 US cents), a rate that, along with Kenya’s geothermal power, is the lowest in the country, according to an AFP news report.

“Here you can produce wind power at an interesting cost, without subsidies,” unlike the case in Europe, head of Dutch-led consortium Lake Turkana Wind Power Group Carlo Van Wageningen told AFP.

With a maximum rated capacity projected at 300 MW, Lake Turkana Wind Farm will be the largest in Africa. An initial 50 MW is scheduled to come on-line in mid-2014 with the balance due for commissioning in early 2015.

The 585 million euro (~$772 million) project also entails building a 428-kilometer (~265-mile) transmission line that will link the wind farm to the national grid, an element of the project that is being undertaken by Spain’s Isolux Corsan.

The consortium has signed a $756 million contract with Denmark’s Vestas A/S to supply 365 Vestas V52 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 850 kW

Kenya’s Green Energy Drive

Kenyans pay more for electricity than residents of any other African country except Rwanda. Even so, power cuts and power losses are common. Given its substantial wind, geothermal and solar energy resources, renewable energy could go a long way to improving the situation, as well as yielding significant benefits in terms of economic development, jobs creation and environmental conservation and protection.