UK based electricity provider Globeleq has awarded a contract for the construction of its first geothermal plant.
Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC) is the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the 35 MW Menengai geothermal project in Nakuru county, Kenya. The Japanese service provider also won a long-term service agreement (LTSA) for the project.
The $108Million Menengai project will benefit from financing agreements the company inked with the African Development Bank, the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank and Finnfund in December. 2022.
Construction is expected to begin during the first quarter of 2023 once financial close has been reached. “Having signed these key project agreements with TTC after achieving a fully committed financing in early January 2023, we will now work with the government of Kenya to reach financial close and start construction as soon as possible,” declares Globeleq CEO Mike Scholey.
Globeleq will operate and maintain the power plant once it reaches commercial operations in 2025. The steam turbine and generator will be manufactured by Fuji Electric.
During the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties, held in Egypt, in November, the Kenyan and UK governments jointly committed to fast-tracking green investment projects worth KSh500-billion in the country, which included the Menengai project.
The 35MW Menengai is part of the first phase of the wider Menengai complex, which is the second large-scale geothermal field being developed in Kenya after Olkaria.
Steam will be supplied to the project by Geothermal Development Company (GDC), a Kenya government-owned company under a 25-year project implementation and steam supply agreement.
