Aug 31 2010
The GDC (Geothermal Development Company), a Kenyan government-owned company, has harnessed steam equal to 80 MW of electrical energy during the last six months.
This represents Kenya’s resolve in seeking alternative, reliable energy for bringing down manufacturing costs as well as propelling economic growth. The company’s output has helped the country in increasing its overall geothermal energy production to an overall level of 209 MW capacity.
The Kenya Manufacturing Association has opined that high energy costs have been continuing to decrease the nation’s product competitiveness both in the regional as well as the international markets. GDC’s goal has been to accelerate geothermal energy development as a way of protecting manufacturers from the high production costs.
It is estimated that Kenya has vast potential for geothermal power generation up to around 10,000 MW capacity. The Kenyan government is keen in injecting geothermal electricity to the extent of 3,000 MW capacity into the power grid by 2020 while increasing it to about 5,000 MW by the year 2030.