By: ESI Africa

The plant is expected to tap into 19 geothermal production wells with a provision for seven more wells over a 25-year lifespan, according to Raddar Africa.

The Kenyan and Japanese governments, as well as the European Investment Bank, are collaborating on this project, which is expected to be completed by 2027. 

Engineer Peter Njenga, KenGen’s Chief Executive Officer, emphasised that the Olkaria VII project is a critical component of the company’s recently unveiled 10-year strategic plan. This strategy seeks to add at least 1,500MW of renewable energy to the national grid within the next decade.

Geothermal power will account for around 800MW of this new capacity, with the remainder coming from other clean energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydro.

Kengen Investment Manager Paul Wambugu spoke to ESI Africa at the Green Hydrogen Summit in Cape Town about Kenya’s green hydrogen ambition and how their experience with running successful geothermal plants is informing this journey.

The Significance of Olkaria VII for Kenya’s Growth

Kenya has an installed power generation capacity of 1,726MW, with geothermal energy accounting for a significant amount of that total. With the completion of the new Olkaria VII plant, the government aims to get closer to its goal of completely relying on renewable energy by 2030.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet has also given the nod to the implementation of Phase III of the Last Mile Connectivity Project (LMCP), targeting 180,500 new electricity connections for households, schools, health centres, and  micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), while strengthening Kenya’s distribution grid.

The initiative, which will be executed in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Canada-AfDB Climate Fund, aims to address ongoing problems such as excessive connection fees, underutilised transformers, and insufficient infrastructure in remote rural areas.

The cabinet heard that counties with low electricity penetration and no previous support under similar programmes will be prioritised.