Kenya: Direct Uses of Geothermal Waters at Menengai

Menengai Caldera fieldwork 2015 - Direct Use projects and sundogs

Blog by Helen Robinson, PhD student at Glasgow University

Tito talking to Mairi about The Dairy

There are four direct use schemes that have just started to run in the caldera, linked together in a cascade system. The schemes have been set up on the well pad of MW-03, which is currently venting, with power generation from this well at 2-3 MW.

Tito, who is one of the leads on the projects first explained how the heat exchanger worked. Cold water from nearby tanks arrive at the well pad under gravity and is fed in to a large coil. This coil is surrounded by super-heated brine water that is rising from the well. The interface between the super-heated water and the coil is the point of heat transfer to the cold water. The cold water is heated to around 75°C before being piped to the direct use projects. Once the brine water from the well has been used, it is transferred to a pond, where there are plans being developed for further uses. Nothing is wasted.

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