African private power company Globeleq has executed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC) for a 35MW geothermal project in Kenya.
TTC will also carry out long-term servicing of the Menengai geothermal plant once it is built.
Construction of the project, in Nakuru county, is expected to commence during the first quarter of 2023 once financial close has been reached.
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.
Mike Scholey, CEO of Globeleq and, Kazumasa Kimura, chief operating officer for the Africa Division of TTC, signed the agreement in Tokyo earlier today.
Globeleq’s $108m Menengai project will be the company’s first geothermal plant.
The EPC and maintenance agreements follow on from the financing agreements signing in December 2022, with the African Development Bank, the Eastern and Southern African Trade & Development Bank and Finnfund.
During COP27, President Ruto of Kenya and Prime Minister Sunak of the UK jointly committed to fast-track green investment projects in the country, which included the Menengai project.
The project will deliver clean, reliable and affordable baseload power to the national grid and also benefits from a Letter of Support issued by the Government of Kenya.
Menengai is 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.
Once operational, electricity will be sold to Kenya Power, the national distribution company, under a power purchase agreement for the same timeframe.
The project will deliver clean and cheap baseload power to the national grid and enable GDC to monetise the available steam resources from the Menengai steam field.