Ruto breaks ground for 35MW OrPower22 Menengai power plant

President William Ruto has broken ground for the construction of the 35MW geothermal power plant at Menengai in Nakuru County by OrPower 22.

OrPower 22 is one of the three Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that have been awarded build-own-operate contracts to construct 35MW power plants at the Menengai geothermal field with a total capacity of 105MW.

The others are Sosian Menengai Geothermal Power which completed the construction of its plant last year and started to feed power to the grid in August 2023.

The third IPP is Globeleq, which commenced construction of its power plant in the field at the beginning of the year after reaching financial closure. Globeleq’s plant is expected to be completed and commence operations by the end of 2025.

OrPower 22, a subsidiary of US-based Symbion Power, was fully acquired by Kaishan Renewable Energy Development Pte Ltd. Kaishan is a subsidiary of the China-based Kaishan group Co. Ltd. Kaishan was also the EPC contractor for the Sosian plant.

President Ruto said that the Menengai plants are one of the key projects in Kenya’s plan to make its grid 100% green by 2030. About 86% of the electricity that is fed to the Kenyan grid is generated from renewable sources, primarily geothermal, hydro, wind and solar.

“Aside from this objective, the commencement of this project highlights our commitment to unlock Kenya’s vast geothermal power potential to drive economic growth. It is also a clear demonstration of our strength in mobilizing private sector investment to develop critical infrastructure and provide essential services,” said Dr Ruto.

The President noted that Kenya has only tapped 950MW of its geothermal energy potential of 10,000MW, and invited private investors to explore further investments in the geothermal space in the country.

Despite this, he extolled Kenya’s leading position in geothermal globally, ranking as the 6th largest producer of power from the resource in the world.

Geothermal currently accounts for more than half of the electricity that Kenyans use. This share will be further boosted by the completion of the two remaining Menengai geothermal plants with further plants set to be built at Suswa in Narok and Paka in Baringo.

“There has been a proposition that clean energy cannot sufficiently drive economic growth because of its cost. But we are slowly demonstrating that it is possible to be clean and also to develop,” added the President.

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