Kenya Power to buy from geothermal and hydroelectric facilities

Kenya Power will be buying 70 MW’s worth of energy from Akiira Geothermal Ltd’s geothermal and hydroelectric facilities and 6 MW from Kleen Energy Ltd’s mini hydro prject respectively.

Kenya’s national electricity distributor has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Akiira Geothermal Ltd tied to the latter’s 70-MW geothermal power project in Kajiado. Under the terms of the contract, Akiira will be selling the output of the plant to Kenya Power at USD 9.23 (EUR 8.31) per kWh. The price per kWh agreed under the contract with Kleen Energy Ltd is USD 9.20.

“These partnerships and generation projects are crucial towards meeting our goal to reach 70% connectivity by 2017 and universal access by 2020,” said Ben Chumo, Kenya Power’s managing director and CEO. Recently, the utility signed a 100-MW wind PPA with Kipeto Power Ltd.

At present, Kenya’s installed generation capacity amounts to 2,298 MW, with geothermal and hydro accounting for 46.4% and 38.1% shares, respectively.