Kenya is gearing up to commission the 165.4 MW Olkaria V geothermal power plant in July. Construction work kicked off in January 2017, marking a slightly over two-year turnaround period from groundbreaking to completion.
The plant comes with two units, each with a net capacity of 82.7 MW. Each unit has its own set of turbines and generators and each turbine stands to absorb 500 tonnes of dry steam per hour at elevated temperatures of about 270 degrees Celsius, meaning the steel has to be hardened to withstand the heat.
Olkaria V plant belongs to Kenya’s largest power producer, KenGen and its construction was contracted out to a consortium of two Japanese firms, Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, along with a Kenyan civil engineering firm, H Young.
