Company News
UK Firm Inks Sh9bn Deal for Menengai Geothermal Plant
Globeleq has inked funding agreements with several global financiers.
London-based power producer Globeleq has signed Sh9 billion ($72 million) funding agreements with several financiers to support the construction of a 35MW geothermal power plant at the Menengai Crater in Nakuru County.
According to chief executive Mike Scholey, Globeleq has signed funding pacts with the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank, and Finnfund to finance the multi-billion-shilling project.
Construction of the plant, which will be built at the Menengai Crater geothermal fields in Nakuru, is scheduled to start this year and be finalised by September 2025.
“As an active participant in the Kenyan energy sector for many years, the Menengai geothermal project is our first geothermal project,” Mr Scholey said.
“It fully aligns with our focus on quality investments which utilize renewable energy sources to create clean, reliable, and cost-effective energy for the country.”
Renewable energy
Globeleq, which is largely an Africa-focused independent power producer (IPP) has been quite active in the Kenyan renewable energy sector.
Together with Africa Energy Development Corporation (AEDC), a renewable energy producer, the firm jointly owns Malindi Solar Group Limited, a special-purpose vehicle company that operates the 40MW Malindi Solar Park in Kilifi.
The Malindi Solar project, which is located in Langobaya, 50km west of Malindi town in Kilifi County, went live on December 4, 2021 – injecting 40MW of clean energy into the national grid.
RELATED: Solar Energy, Geothermal Set to Power Kenya’s Next 40 Years
In 2021, Globeleq acquired a controlling stake in Quantum Power East Africa – one of the three IPPs that were earlier granted exclusive rights by the State to establish steam-driven power plants on a build-own-operate model.
The first three plants, each producing 35MW, will be built, owned, and run by the IPP along with Sosian Menengai Geothermal Power and OrPower Twenty-Two Company.
This comes in the wake of a new report by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) which states that aggressive investment in geothermal has pushed the installed capacity of the energy source to a record high of 949.13MW.
RELATED: Inside Kenya’s Small-Scale Solar Energy Revolution
It also comes at a time when Kenya’s main geothermal power producer KenGen has announced plans to scale up geothermal drilling activities in various parts of the country as it seeks to add 3,000MW to the grid within the next 10 years.
Drilling opportunities
According to KenGen managing director and CEO Abraham Serem, the company will be seeking new geothermal drilling opportunities within the Tana River Basin and in the Rift Valley while expanding existing ones in Western Kenya.
The company is seeking to deliver 305MW of geothermal power, out of which 280MW will come from Olkaria and 25MW from Eburru Geothermal Plant, whose construction will start immediately after it obtains the requisite approvals.
KenGen says it will leverage new technology to upgrade its oldest geothermal power plant – 45MW Olkaria 1 – to raise its capacity to more than 60MW.
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