CS in the ministry of energy Davis Chirchir and other government officials during a tour in Olkaria Naivasha (PHOTO: Anthony Gitonga)

By ANTHONY GITONGA and GEOFFREY MOSOKU

NAIVASHA, KENYA: The ongoing works in the 280mw geothermal plant in Olkaria Naivasha is behind schedule.

This emerged when the Cabinet Secretary in the ministry of energy Davis Chirchir led a high powered government team to the site.

Addressing the press, Chirchir said that the first phase of 140mw from Olkaria IV plant was supposed to be complete between January and February 2014.

“We shall be coming back to the site on the 24th of this month to review the progress made by the contractors and we hope they will be working on the final touches,” he said.

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On the further 140mw from Olkaria I plant, Chirchir said that they expect works to be ready between July and August 2014.
“We have spoken to the contractors and we expect the remaining works to be ready within the set timeline,” he said.

During the tour, the CS said that he expected the cost of power to drop significantly once the two power plants were ready.

He said that the cost of producing the steam would be two US cents per kilowatt a move that would see cost of power come down.

On future projects, Chirchir said that plans were underway to pump an extra 1,400mw into the national grid.
He said that Olkaria area would produce an extra 350mw, Suswa 600mw and the Baringo-Silale area had the potential of 140mw.

On Coal, the CS said that the plant in the Coast was in the last stages noting that once complete it would produce 960mw.
He said that the projects would be carried out in phases adding that the cost of power was one of the major challenges facing the country.

“The Liquefied Gas (LG) plant is expected to add another 700mw into the national grid and we shall be working on this in phases,” he said.

Present during the tour were the ministry’s Principal Secretary Joseph Njoroge, acting Kengen MD Simon Ngure among other senior government staff.

Meanwhile, the ministry of energy and petroleum says Kenya’s power production will stand at 5,000 megawatts of electricity in the next three years.

Chichir says that the ministry through KenGen and other power producers will add to the national grid 3,300 megawatts in this period.

Currently, the country is producing about 1700 megawatts, which Chirchir says is way below what the local economy needs to spur growth.