Africas largest power plant starts operations

The largest biogas power plant in Africa has started its operations three years after its construction began.

The Naivasha based plant that has an installed capacity of 2.6  megawatts will now be connected to the national grid which will see the cost of electricity further come down.

The Ksh 765M project themed as Africa’s first grid-connect Anaerobic Digester (AD) plant will reduce the amount government incurs buying diesel for its thermal plants.

Built by Tropical Power, the plant uses farm waste that is digested by  micro-organisms feeding in the absence of oxygen to produce biogas.

This biogas is then combusted with a combined heat and power engine to produce electricity and heat making it the first of its kind in Africa and with a life span of over 25 years.

While commissioning the plant, Nakuru governor Kinuthia Mbugua said the launch was significant to the government’s aim of subsidizing the cost of electricity adding that more houses will be connected with affordable power.

Mbugua termed the plant as a global break through in technology saying that Gorge Farm- the company that is producing farm waste- had proved clean energy can be realized in Kenya.

He said the demand for energy in Nakuru County was increasing by the day owing to the numerous developments that are currently being undertaken.

Tropical Power Chairman Mike Mason said plans are at an advanced stage for an agreement between them and Kenya Power on the sale of electricity.

“Tropical power will soon be converted to Biojoule Kenya Ltd which is an Independent Power Producer (IPP) and then sign an agreement with Kenya Power as well as the generation and distribution license for the project”.

He said that the 2.6MW project was the first of four phases that will see the company also construct a 10 MW solar power project by 2016.

Mason noted that this technology was the fist of a kind adding that the waste from the digester would be used as fertilizer and supplied to the various flower farms in Naivasha.

He however called for a level playing field saying that tariffs that kept on changing were not good for the industry.

“The biogas plant will provide 2MW of power to the grid at a cost of US $0.10 per kWh compared to the US $ 0.38 kWh that diesel generated power costs to produce”.

“This is a Kenyan- British owned company and the government should see as partners and carry us alongside when renegotiating these deals, “he said.

By Karanja Kimani