Kenyan President William Ruto yesterday attended the groundbreaking for a 35MW geothermal power plant in the Rift Valley county of Nakura, some 200km northwest of Nairobi.

The $90m project is a public-private partnership between Kenya and Shanghai-based Kaishan Group, reports the Xinhua news agency.

The Orpower 22 Geothermal Power Plant will take 17 months to complete, Xinhua said.

Orpower 22 is Kaishan Group’s second geothermal plant in Kenya. Its 35MW Sosian Menengai plant, also in Nakura county, started supplying electricity to the national grid in June 2023.

Geothermal powerhouse

Geothermally rich Kenya aims to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2030, in large part by exploiting 5.5GW of its estimated 10GW of geothermal potential.

Renewables already make up 88% of Kenya’s 3.3GW of installed capacity, which is accessible to 77% of the population.

Geothermal energy currently supplies about 950MW of this.

President Ruto said Kenya had created an “enabling environment” for private sector investments.

The Orpower 22 plant would make Kenya the fifth largest generator of geothermal energy in the world, he added.