Thursday, December 10, 2015

Kenya: Geothermal Supplies Over Half of all Energy

Kenya geothermal generation surges to 402 million KWh a month (Coastweek)

Geothermal's contribution to the national energy mix now stands at 51 percent

"Man Made Rainbow" by Sam Abraham.
Well flow test a Menengai, Kenya
Kenya’s geothermal power production has peaked at 402 million kilowatts per hour (KWh) a month.

The country produced 402.2 million KWh in October, up from 389 million KWh in September and 378 million KWh in August, latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

It is the first time that the East African nation’s geothermal power production has crossed the 400 million KWh mark ever since it started to surge in December 2014 after the injection of additional 280 megawatts (MW) to the national grid.

Geothermal contribution to the national energy mix now stands at 51 percent, with hydro-power coming in second.

With the rise in geothermal power production, consumers are enjoying uninterrupted power supply and bidding goodbye to blackouts that characterized use of electricity years ago. Boosted by increased geothermal power generation, electricity supplier Kenya Power made its first tariff cut in June.