SEPCOIII upgrades KenGen's Olkaria I geothermal plant in Kenya from 45 MW to 63 MW

Chinese contractor SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd has upgraded Olkaria I, which Xinhua describes as Africa's first geothermal power station, raising its installed capacity from 45 MW to 63 MW. The plant sits in Hell's Gate National Park in Nakuru County and belongs to the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen).

SEPCOIII, a subsidiary of Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA), began the project in August 2023 and upgraded all three generating units. Engineers redesigned the steam-field pipeline layout and optimised the separators, exhaust stations, control valves and cooling systems. The changes raised capacity without requiring additional steam, said Zhang Yang, the deputy project manager.

KenGen announced the contract award on 19 March 2024. Its release named SEPCOIII as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor and Toshiba Energy Systems and Solutions Corporation as supplier of the steam turbines and generators for the three units. It set completion for December 2026 and said the project would raise generation by up to 40 per cent over conventional models. KenGen called it a multibillion contract but did not give its value or currency.

Maurice Awuor, electrical engineering manager at KenGen, said the plant's 63 MW is about 2 per cent of Kenya's total installed generation capacity, and that it is the only geothermal rehabilitation project in Kenya in the past three years to have been commissioned and to add capacity to the national grid. Geothermal provides about 40 per cent of Kenya's electricity, according to data from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). The Kenya National Energy Compact 2025–2030 aims for 1,681 MW of installed geothermal capacity by 2030.

Olkaria I's first unit was commissioned in 1981 and has since been decommissioned. Condensers, circulating water pumps and cooling towers made in China replaced ageing machinery.

The upgrade went unit by unit. ThinkGeoEnergy reported on 12 June that the contractor, Shandong Electric Power Construction No. 3 (SEPCO3), announced Unit 3 had been connected to the grid after rehabilitation and was operating stably. Units 1 and 2 were expected to follow soon, without a date.

Zhang Liang, the project manager, said some areas around the plant had experienced rotational power cuts due to electricity shortages and that the added capacity had helped strengthen local supply. Wind and solar output fluctuates with the weather and time of day, while geothermal can supply power more steadily and help balance the grid, he said.

Chinese and Kenyan engineers shared knowledge on the project. "I have learned a more rigorous approach to work from the Chinese engineers," said Perry Karuri, a Kenyan quality assurance and control engineer responsible for construction inspections.