A private firm is seeking to build a 4-megawatt (MW) captive power plant using geothermal steam at the Menengai geothermal field in Nakuru County.
Captive power plants operate by generating electricity primarily for the consumption of the owner and not for sale to the public.
Karsan Ramji and Sons Limited (KRSL), the project developer, wants to use the power plant which will be constructed at an estimated cost of Sh1.2 billion to power a cement factory that it wants to build in the area.
The firm has already secured a steam supply agreement with the State-owned Geothermal Development Company (GDC), which will deliver the required steam to power the plant.
The company has submitted an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report to the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) for the project.
“The proposed project will involve installation, operation, and possible decommissioning of a 4MW captive power generation unit at Main Well 18A within the Menengai Geothermal Field to power a proposed cement plant and pozzolana drying. Other components will include drying plant and cooling towers,” says the ESIA.
GDC is targeting to build an industrial park at the Menengai geothermal field and attract a wide range of industries to utilize the 1,600MW of geothermal power at the field.
The parastatal plans to entice firms to use the geothermal steam for purposes other than power generation such as greenhouse farming, fish farming, milk pasteurisation and laundromat business.
The company has already rolled out five direct-use pilot projects at the site through a collaboration with the United States Development Agency to showcase the technology to potential investors.
Karsan Ramji and Sons Limited is part of the growing list of companies that are targeting to generate their own electricity to power their operations.
This is a strategy by especially large power consumers such as manufacturers who want to cut their growing electricity bills.
It is against this backdrop that many power consumers are either entirely switching to using captive power or supplementing their supply from the national grid with captive power.
This is dealing a major blow to Kenya Power for whom large commercial and industrial customers are its biggest clients, topping domestic consumers.
Total captive power capacity has been growing exponentially in recent years and hit a historic 532.6MW in the year to June 2024, according to official data from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra).
Solar PV and bioenergy remain the largest sources of captive power with installed capacities of 229.2MW and 161.8MW respectively.
The others are waste heat recovery (83.5MW), hydro (33MW), thermal (21.3MW), and geothermal (3.7MW).
