Kenya Electricity Generating Co. said it may partner with U.S., Chinese or Indian investors to finance and develop geothermal plants, including a $650 million facility that will generate as much as 180 MW.
KenGen, as the company is known, will probably take a minority stake
in Olkaria VI, the plant it expects to begin building in 2018, as it
tries to step up generating capacity to meet at least half of the East
African nation’s requirements, Finance Director John Mudany said
Wednesday in an interview in the capital, Nairobi. “We could take up 49 percent equity and we hope this will help us
attract private investors,” Mudany said. “This is a new instrument we
want to pioneer. If it works, we might apply this model on future
projects.”
KenGen wants to more than double its generation capacity to 4,270 MW by 2025, via plants at geothermal
wells Olkaria VII and VIII, Chief Executive Officer Albert Mugo said in
a separate interview. KenGen could also partner with the Geothermal
Development Co., a state-owned entity that is developing geothermal
resources, Mugo said.
The plan to boost generation to at least half of anticipated demand
in a decade will cost about $8.1 billion, according to Mugo. The company
is considering financial and technical partners from the U.S., Japan,
India and China, all of whom have expressed interest in joint ventures,
he said, without identifying them. “Olkaria VI is going to be a pilot and depending on interest, we
could do the next one very quickly,” Mugo said. “People are keen to work
with us, there are investors who keep asking us how far our plans are
are, this is not something unrealistic.”
©2015 Bloomberg News
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2015/12/kengen-of-kenya-seeks-partner-to-help-develop-geothermal-plants.html
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